Maruti Ciaz is killing the Honda City: Here’s why

For years, the Honda City has been the best selling C-Segment sedan. We now have a new champ. The Ciaz has overtaken the City in terms of sales. While the new City and the Ciaz were both launched in 2014, the Ciaz has gradually gained the numbers and has now overthrown the City from the top. Let’s find out the reasons behind the meteoric rise of the Ciaz.

Price

Maruti worked to put a mild hybrid system in the Ciaz diesel. The SHVS technology made the Ciaz eligible to take the NEMMP subsidy for hybrid vehicles, making Ciaz a lot cheaper than the Honda City. The base variant difference between Maruti Ciaz and Honda City is Rs. 1.7 lakh, which is a lot by any standard.

Future ban proof

With the current number of the ban being announced for diesel vehicles, people are looking for other options. The hybrid technology-laden Ciaz is safe from any such ban in the future. Also, the car does not have to follow any odd-even day because its hybrid capabilities, making it much more practical diesel car to own.

Maruti’s phenomenal reach

It is a well-known fact that the dealership and service network of Maruti is very well connected and have good penetration in the Indian towns. Honda is yet to get such a huge service network. Customers do like a service centre that is closer to home and hence, Maruti has an added advantage with this.

Space

The Maruti Ciaz is longer and wider than the Honda City. Even though the City is not less in space by any means but people generally buy this segment for good rear leg space. The Ciaz wins here. The car is roomier and more spacious than the Honda City.

Higher mileage

Coming from the manufacturer who invented the famous advertisement of “Kitna deti hai?”, Ciaz with the hybrid system returns a mileage of 26.3 km/l against 26 km/l of the City but the hybrid system makes sure that the real world mileage is close to this claimed figure. Also, the Honda being really new in the diesel engine market in India, is yet to make a smooth diesel engine. Maruti uses the tried and tested 1.3-litre multijet in the Ciaz making it run a lot smoother.

Maintenance

According to our research done here, Maruti Ciaz is a lot cheaper to maintain than the Honda City. In a six years period, the general service of Ciaz costs just Rs. 30,400 while Honda City service during the same period costs Rs. 57,400.

But the Honda City still makes sense, if

1. You want a powerful petrol car that is really smooth to drive. Remember, only the price of Ciaz Diesel have come down because of the hybrid system, the prices of the petrol variants remain the same.
2. If you want an automatic petrol sedan, the City makes for a better choice. The CVT automatic transmissions are lot smoother than conventional automatic transmissions.
3. If you want to brag about the brand. Honda here is obviously more popular brand than the Maruti Suzuki and a Honda in your garage will surely boost your image among the neighbors.