Honda City Hybrid will come to India with Honda Sensing Tech

Honda is working on launching the City Hybrid in the Indian market, the new sedan is supposed to be production-ready. However, the launch was delayed because of the COVID-19. According to Autocar India, City Hybrid will come with Honda Sensing Tech which basically consists of active and passive safety features.

So, the Honda City Hybrid will come with features like emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, auto high beam assist, lane departure warning system, lane keep assist and front collision warning system. Moreover, there will safety features from the fifth-gen City will also be carried over the City Hybrid. So, there will also be up to 6 airbags, ISOFIX child seat mounts, ABS with EBD, Brake Assist, Hill Start Assist, Emergency Stop Signal, Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, Vehicle Stability Assist and LaneWatch camera.

As the name suggests, the City Hybrid will come with a hybrid system. There will still be a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine on offer. It will produce 97 bhp of max power and 127 Nm of peak torque.

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Then there will be two electric motors that will also drive the front wheels. One of the electric motors will act as an integrated starter generator also called ISG. This motor will be integrated with the petrol engine. The second motor will drive the wheels. It is capable of producing 108 bhp of max power. The gearbox used for this motor has a fixed ratio.

We cannot add both the power outputs to get a total power output. However, we do know that the combined torque output from the electric motor and the engine is 253 Nm. Despite being around 110 kgs heavier than the regular City, the City Hybrid is a second faster to 100 kmph. The City Hybrid would only be offered with an e-CVT automatic transmission that will drive the front wheels only. There will be no manual gearbox on offer.

Because of the hybrid system, the fuel economy will go up. The current City claims a fuel efficiency of 18.4 kmpl for Petrol CVT. However, in real life, the City returns a fuel efficiency of around 12 kmpl. The official figure that Honda claims is 27.5 kmpl in Malaysia and Thailand where the City Hybrid is already on sale. So, a fuel efficiency figure of more than 17 kmpl should be safe to assume.

Having said that, there is a negative effect of the hybrid system. The boot space has gone down from 506 litres to 410 litres. This has happened because of the larger battery that Honda had to fit. The spare tyre has also been removed so we expect the sedan to come with a puncture repair kit. Honda will offer rear disc brakes and an electronic parking brake with the City Hybrid.

The fifth generation of City starts from Rs. 11.23 lakhs ex-showroom and goes up to Rs. 15.18 lakhs ex-showroom. According to media reports, the City Hybrid is expected to start from Rs. 18 lakhs ex-showroom. Because of this, the on-road price could exceed Rs. 20 lakhs. Honda is expecting to sell 250-300 units of City Hybrid each month.

Via Autocar India 

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