New Honda Civic will be locally assembled in India

Earlier this year at Auto Expo 2018, Honda revealed that it would be bringing back the Civic to India. Now NDTV Auto is reporting that the new Civic for India, which will be the new facelifted version of the sedan, will be imported into the country through the CKD route.

According to the publication, Honda will be assembling the Civic at its facilities in Greater Noida from the completely knocked down kits. The new Civic will be sharing the assembly line with the recently launched Honda CR-V SUV.

The facelifted Honda Civic will feature a high level of localization with 68 percent of the setup set to be sourced through local suppliers. This should hopefully help the Japanese carmaker keep the prices of the Civic competitive when compared to the rivals it will face on the road, Toyota’s Corolla and Skoda’s Octavia.

NDTV also claims that the new Civic will share drivetrains with the recently launched CR-V. This means that it will be sold in both petrol and diesel guises with a manual gearbox option unlikely to make its way to the premium sedan. The Honda CR-V is offered with a 2.0-litre petrol engine which cranks out 152 bhp at 6,500 rpm and 189 Nm of torque at 4,300 rpm. The engine is paired with a CVT gearbox. The diesel CR-V, on the other hand, uses a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine that churns out 118 bhp at 4,000 rpm and 300 Nm of peak torque at 2,000 rpm. The engine is paired to a 9-speed automatic gearbox.

The new Honda Civic for India will be a facelifted version of the sedan showcased at Auto Expo in February 2018. The facelifted Honda Civic sedan features a more aggressive front end with a revised bumper that features chrome elements for the fog lamp housings. The rear-end of the 2019 Honda Civic gets a strip of chrome that runs across the boot lid. The sedan also features piano black accents and a set of alloy wheels. Inside, the new Honda Civic features a large 7.0-inch infotainment display with support for both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

The new 2019 Honda Civic will go on sale in India in February 2019 and will go up against the likes of the Toyota Corolla and the Skoda Octavia. A few months after its launch, the Civic will also face off against a new rival – Maruti’s rebadged version of the Toyota Corolla.