Japanese carmaker Honda Cars India (HCIL) on Thursday finally launched its much anticipated all-new Civic in India at a starting price of Rs 17.70 lakh and ranging up to Rs 22.30 lakh for the top variant. Now in its 10th generation, Civic makes its return to the Indian market after a hiatus of seven years to complete Honda’s sedan portfolio.
The sleek Civic will compete against established players like Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corolla Altis and Hyundai Elantra in the executive segment and if the new booking numbers are to be believed, it might well emerge as the segment winner in the next few months.
Honda stated on Thursday that the new executive sedan has received 1,100 bookings in 20 days — equivalent to two months of the entire segment’s sales volume. HCIL President and Chief Executive Officer Gaku Nakanishi also pointed out that the new Civic has the potential to revive the segment.
For the ongoing financial year, Honda said that it expects to end it with around 8 per cent sales growth due to the good performance of its compact sedan Amaze. In contrast, according to Nakanishi, the industry would achieve growth of just 3-4 per cent this fiscal.
“In the April to February period this fiscal, our sales have grown 6.5 per cent. We expect to sell around 17,000 units in March taking our overall sales to 1.8 lakh units for the year which would translate to a growth of 8 per cent from 1.7 lakh units sold last fiscal,” he said. While the CEO did not mention the growth HCIL expects to achieve next financial year or the number of vehicles it will launch, he did say that the company would now focus on completing its SUV portfolio and aggressively expand in tier-II and tier-III cities.
“We also want to have a complete range of SUVs. We know there are gaps in our SUV portfolio and we are working hard to fill it,” Nakanishi said.
Rajesh Goel, senior vice president and Director, HCIL added that the company aims to open 45 touchpoints by the end of this fiscal, with a large chunk of new showrooms to be opened in tier-II and tier-III cities across India.
As for 2019’s Civic, the new version comes in five variants with two engine and gearbox options for Indian customers. The new model is powered by a 1.8-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine that produces 141hp and 174Nm of torque. The engine comes mated to a 7-step CVT gearbox and returns an ARAI-rated 16.5 kpl. The diesel Civic gets a 1.6-litre turbocharged unit that puts out 120hp and 300Nm of torque while returning 26.8kpl (ARAI). Unlike the petrol engine, the diesel is available with only a 6-speed manual gearbox.
Under the civic’s hood
The new version of the Civic comes in five variants with two engine and gearbox options for Indian customers
The petrol models are powered by a 1.8-litre naturally aspirated engine that produces 141hp of power and 174Nm of torque
This engine comes mated to a 7-step CVT automatic gearbox and returns an ARAI-rated fuel economy pf 16.5 kmpl
The diesel Civics meanwhile get a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine that delivers 120hp of power and 300Nm of torque
The diesel is available with only a 6-speed manual gearbox, but delivers an ARAI-rates fuel economy of 26.8 kmpl