Honda like other carmakers in India is gearing up for the BS-VI switch. It is a big leap, however the makers were given a two year period (there still are four months left). Honda’s third BS-VI car for the Indian market will be its bread and butter, City. The other two are the Civic and the CR-V petrols. Honda has exclusively confirmed to Express Drives about its BS-VI City plans. The Honda City BS-VI will be launched in December this year. Dealer dispatches will begin in sometime while the new Honda City will initially be available only in a BS-VI petrol avatar. The BS-VI diesel Honda City will follow at a later stage. We expect the new BS-VI Honda City petrol price to start from Rs 10.1 lakh, ex-showroom. The current price of the BS-IV petrol is Rs 9.80 lakh.
The Honda City BS-VI petrol is unlikely to have any changes to its power rating. It’s 1.5-litre, i-VTEC engine will produce 118hp of power and 145Nm of power. The claimed mileage might change and we expect it to be a tad lower than what it has currently, 17.4kmpl. Expect a decrease by around two kilometre per litre. This though might not have an adverse effect on the everyday driving range. At present, only Kia Motors sells a BS-VI diesel in the affordable spectrum in India.
There will be no facelift associated with the BS-VI City. It will continue to be sold in the present form with a few minor tweaks, mostly to the cabin. The updated Honda City will go up against the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Hyundai Verna, Toyota Yaris and Volkswagen Vento. None of its rivals at present have a BS-VI engine. However, we expect Maruti Suzuki to roll out the Ciaz BS-VI pretty much in a few days.
A statement on our queries from Honda Car India received this response.
“We will start dispatching the upgraded BS6 compliant Honda City to our dealers soon, and are hopeful that retail sales will begin starting December 2019. We are ready with Honda City Petrol variant compliant with BS6. Diesel will follow subsequently.”
