After a long gap, Honda once again brought back their famed Civic sedan to Indian shores. The bookings for the car had were underway for an amount of Rs. 31,000. Despite being priced higher than the rivals, the company during launch event stated that it has got nearly 1,100 orders for its brand new executive sedan in just under 20 days.
What makes this achievement a remarkable feat is that the total bookings received by the company equals the sales figures of two months of the segment. Now there are reports that the waiting period for the car has climbed to 15-30 days. Autocar states that counting the sales of Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corolla Altis, Hyundai Elantra for December 2018 and January 2019 brings the tally of the segment to only 858 units.
Prices for Honda Civic begin at Rs 17.69 lakh for the base model. With an option for petrol and diesel engines, the petrol motor in Honda’s new executive sedan is a 1.8-litre 4-cylinder unit rated for Bhp and 174 Nm. While the diesel unit is a 1.6-litre mill rated for 118 Bhp and 300 Nm. While the petrol models come with a CVT automatic gearbox, the diesel models make do with a manual transmission only. Honda has also said that depending on the customer demand, a diesel automatic version could be launched as well.
Honda Civic has introduced Civic in three trims -- V, VX and ZX. The detailed prices for different models are stated below.
Petrol V – Rs. 17.69 lakh
Petrol VX – Rs. 19.2 lakh
Petrol ZX – Rs. 20.99 lakh
Diesel VX – Rs. 20.49 lakh
Diesel ZX – Rs. 22.29 lakh
Where Civic trumps other rivals is the mileage of the diesel engine, rated for 26.8 kmpl, this is sure to swing a huge chunk of customers toward buying Civics as mileage still is a dominant factor in Indian sales. Whereas the petrol Civic somewhat pales in front the diesel model with a mileage of 16.5 kmpl. Honda has introduced the Civic for a primarily urban customer segment that wanted to transition beyond Honda City and was looking for a more premium option.
Honda Civic will lock horns with Skoda Octavia, Toyota Corolla Altis, and Hyundai Elantra in the market. The new model of Honda Civic is also banking on the enthusiastic following of the older models of this car in India. However, as we have already stated the marked difference on price as compared to rivals might prove a deterring factor for new customers. Honda remains hopeful though and only the upcoming months can give a clear picture over the car’s performance.