Honda launches City Hybrid at Rs. 19.5 lakhs ex-showroom

Honda has finally launched the City e:HEV in India at Rs. 19.5 lakhs ex-showroom. It is being sold in a single fully loaded ZX variant. As of now, the City Hybrid is India’s first mainstream hybrid sedan. When compared, the City e:HEV is Rs. 4.45 lakhs more expensive than the regular petrol City ZX CVT.

Mr. Takuya Tsumura, President & CEO, Honda Cars India Ltd. said, “Today, we embark on our electrification journey in India with the launch of New City e:HEV, reaffirming our commitment to bringing the best and most meaningful technologies to the country. The tremendous response received on the unveil of the model last month reflects the acceptance of the Strong Hybrid technology in the mainstream segment. The New City e:HEV offers many firsts in the segment, in line with the legacy of Honda City – setting benchmarks for the industry with each introduction.”

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He further added, “We believe this Self-Charging Hybrid Electric model which comes with First-in-Segment Advanced Intelligent suite of Safety technologies Honda SENSING, is the most practical solution available in the market and will help customers in making a smooth transition towards an electrified future. Besides great performance, the revolutionary self-charging two-motor strong hybrid system offers outstanding fuel economy of 26.5 km/l with ultra-low emissions. We are manufacturing the City e:HEV in India in line with our commitment towards Indian Government’s Make-in-India vision.”

The City Hybrid comes with Honda Sensing which is essentially a suite of Advanced Driver Aids System or ADAS. The sedan gets Adaptive Cruise Control, Auto High Beam Assist, Collision Mitigation Braking System, Lane Keeping Assist System and Road Departure Mitigation.

Honda has also added 37 connected car features to the City e:HEV. It also supports smartwatch compatibility, and voice commands through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Other features on offer are LED headlamps with LED Daytime Running Lamps, automatic climate control, part digital driver’s display, Electric Parking Brake and Auto Brake Hold. You also get 6 airbags, Honda’s LaneWatch camera, rear camera with multiple views, Vehicle Stability Control, Hill Start Assist, ISOFIX child seat mounts, Tyre Pressure Monitoring System with tyre deflation warning and much more. The infotainment system and the digital instrument cluster have also been updated to show hybrid information. The touchscreen infotainment system does support Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

The major change is in the powertrain. The City e:HEV is still using a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine but it is now running on Atkinson cycle. It also gets two electric motors. The first one is an integrated starter generator. The other one is a traction motor which drives the front wheels.

The combined power output stands at 126 PS and the peak torque output is 253 Nm. There are three driving modes, EV Drive Mode, Hybrid Drive Mode, and Engine Drive Mode. You can only get an e-CVT automatic transmission with the City Hybrid. There are paddle shifters behind the steering wheel that control the amount of brake regeneration. Honda is claiming a fuel efficiency figure of 26.5 kmpl.

The batteries are stored in the boot because of which the boot space has been reduced from 506 litres to 306 litres. The weight has also gone up by around 110 kgs. To handle the additional weight and increase the stopping power, Honda has added rear disc brakes.

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