The launch of Honda City in Indian market got pushed back due to the ongoing pandemic situation in the country. Honda has already launched the next-gen City in Thailand and the car looks different from the current version. Honda will be launching the next-gen City once the lockdown is lifted. It is the fifth generation of the sedan that Honda will be launching in the market later this year. Honda City currently competes with cars like Maruti Ciaz, Hyundai Verna, Skoda Rapid and Volkswagen Vento in the segment. Honda will offer the City with both petrol and diesel engine options unlike some of its competitors. However, there are reports that the petrol engine that the all-new City would be getting will be a brand new unit.
According Autocar India, the all-new Honda City will get a brand new litre petrol engine which will be different from the one seen in the current versions. The City will continue to get the older 1.5 litre diesel engine that will be tuned to meet the new BS6 emission norms. The new petrol engine that City will get is known by the code name: L15B which gets a completely new architecture than the current one (L15A).
The new engine will get twin or Double Overhead Camshaft (DOHC), that will allow Honda to manage the valve lifts and timings in a better way. All the City’s that were sold so far only had single Overhead Camshaft and with this new L15B engine Honda can easily make the brand new City BS6 complaint without compromising on power or performance.
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This new addition is likely to affect the performance of the car too. The new Honda City with the new 1.5 litre engine will be generating a maximum of 121 Bhp and 150 Nm of torque which is slightly more powerful and torquier than the current verion. The power delivery at lower rpms is also likely to improve in this new engine. It is highly unlikely that Honda will bring the 1.0 litre turbocharged petrol unit to India but, it seems like with this new 1.5 litre petrol engine in place we might not actually miss it.
The all-new Honda City looks entirely different from the current version and is also wider and longer than the current version. There is also possibility that the current version and the all-new version would sold in Indian market side by side in order increases Honda’s sedan portfolio. As of now Honda has not given out any official confirmation on this and is still being evaluated.
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