Honda wants to beat the Toyota Corolla with the Civic

Honda will officially bring back the Civic nameplate to the Indian market on 7th March 2019. After skipping a whole generation, Honda will launch the all-new 10th generation Civic and the production of the all-new sedan has already started. The all-new Civic is expected to be priced between Rs. 18 lakhs and Rs. 24 lakhs in the market.

The all-new Civic will take on the likes of the Hyundai Elantra, Skoda Octavia and the Toyota Corolla Altis in the segment. Now the Corolla Altis is the best-selling sedan in the segment and is priced at much lower than the expected price of the upcoming Civic. The Corolla Altis carries a price tag of Rs. 16.45 lakh for the base variant. In an interview with Financial Express, Rajesh Goel, senior vice-president & director, Sales and Marketing, Honda Car India said that with the launch of the Civic, Honda will expand the size of the segment. Currently, the yearly sales of D-Segment sedan are about 10,000 units and Honda will expand the segment with the Civic.

Mr Goel also said that Honda will target the customers who own a vehicle of the Honda City segment and do not want to upgrade to an SUV. Such customers will now have an option of choosing a new vehicle in the segment. As per Mr Goel, the unique design of the Honda Civic will attract a lot of people in the market and the Civic has a unique attractiveness that will also attract the customers who own luxury cars like Mercedes-Benz or BMW.

Honda earlier said that the localisation of the Civic would stand at around 70% but they recently revised the figure while officially announcing the vehicle’s specification. The all-new Civic will get 30% localisation but if the market demand goes up in the future, the localisation can go up to bring down the cost. Honda Civic was earlier available as a hybrid vehicle in the Indian market but there is no such option in the Indian version of the vehicle. However, almost the complete range of Honda is available with a hybrid powertrain in the international markets and if the need arises, the hybrid versions of the regular vehicles can be launched in the Indian market too. But, there are no such plans in the recent future.

The all-new Honda Civic is powered by both petrol and diesel engine options. The petrol variants are powered by a 1.8-litre naturally aspirated, four-cylinder engine that generates a maximum power of 140 PS and 174 Nm of peak torque. It gets a 7-stepped automatic transmission with paddle shifters mounted on the steering wheel. The diesel variants get the 1.6-litre, turbocharged diesel engine that generates a maximum power of 120 PS and 300 Nm. It will only get the 6-speed manual transmission. As per ARAI certification, the petrol versions will return a maximum of 16.5 km/l and the diesel variants of the vehicle will return a maximum of 26.8 km/l.