[84.monsoon]

The V hybrid is going to be very interesting. It can be the perfect package for value conscious buyers and will make the hybrid technology more accessible - provided Honda prices it right. The only major differentiation Honda has against the Slavia and Virtus twins is the hybrid tech. Otherwise the VW group twins come with sleeker looks, 5 star safety, better ground clearance, more powerful turbocharged engines that are as much or more fun to drive plus have more modern looking interiors. By pricing the hybrid obscenely higher than the NA engine variants, Honda lost the first mover advantage on strong hybrids. Toyota and Maruti took the limelight on Strong Hybrids and today, people equate strong hybrids with Toyota. This is despite the fact that Honda introduced the tech (and actually a more sophisticated application of it) a year before. The City hybrid could have been way more established if they had introduced the V variant in the first place.

I hope this time around they position the V Hybrid with a reasonable premium to the regular V car. It should be possible to break even on the premium paid for the hybrid in a period of 3-4 years - only then will volume buyers pick it up.

Given an FE that is say 7 kpl better than the NA variant on a general urban usage cycle with more heavy traffic and slow commutes, and a healthy running of 15000 km a year, the hybrid cannot be priced anymore than 1.5 lakhs above the NA car to make economic sense at the current prevailing petrol prices. With the V variant coating 12 lakhs ex-showroom, the V hybrid should be priced at 13.49 ex-showroom or below to garner any meaningful volumes. Hope Honda realizes this and plays its cards accordingly.

[Flying Shadow]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

I hope this time around they position the V Hybrid with a reasonable premium to the regular V car.

The V hybrid should have been offered without Honda Sensing. Then the price could have been very attractive.
According to Senior Management at HCIL, Honda sensing is worth 1 lakh in current guise.
If we take that into account, the price ought to be higher than the Vitara/Hyryder hybrid twins.
And as history shows, Honda have always failed to price their products competitively enough, overvaluing their brand premium.

Lets hope that Honda nails the pricing this time around.

[Chevyspark]

Originally Posted by Flying Shadow

The V hybrid should have been offered without Honda Sensing. Then the price could have been very attractive.

Rightly said, without ADAS if the price decreases by 1lac than a lot of people would prefer a 4-cylinder Honda than Toyota's noisy 3-cylinder engine.

[Abhi_Automobile]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

The V hybrid is going to be very interesting
Given an FE that is say 7 kpl better than the NA variant on a general urban usage cycle with more heavy traffic and slow commutes, and a healthy running of 15000 km a year, the hybrid cannot be priced anymore than 1.5 lakhs above the NA car to make economic sense at the current prevailing petrol prices. With the V variant coating 12 lakhs ex-showroom, the V hybrid should be priced at 13.49 ex-showroom or below to garner any meaningful volumes. Hope Honda realizes this and plays its cards accordingly.

Fully agree with the argument. Small point though - you’ve taken V manual as benchmark, whereas we should consider V-CVT here since Hybrids are inherently automatic. So, 13.27 + 1.5 lacs = 14.77 lacs. I’d say a 2 lacs premium is also okay (same as Toyota charges for Hyryder). All in all, 15 lacs or just below/above price should be good one by Honda for its V Hybrid.

The Hybrid V can really bring in volume if Honda prices it sensibly. I think Indian market is ripe for paying extra money for better/sustainable tech now. The world over its the same trend..(paying extra for better tech - Hybrid and EV)

[ron178]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

the VW group twins come with sleeker looks, 5 star safety

Bigger question is, what's stopping Honda from getting a GNCAP rating for the City despite best-in-class safety kit. With their new protocols, with standard side airbags, even reasonable frontal crash performance can get you a pretty comfortable five star rating.

GNCAP, interestingly, says that they have more important cars to test than the City and City e:HEV and indirectly made it pretty clear that they won't test them unless approached by Honda.

The struggling half of East Asian automakers isn't getting anywhere until they dispel the 'Asian=unsafe' narrative that has largely been contributed to by the other half. Indian consumers are now dead-set in that GNCAP ratings are the single reliable way to measure safety, so no matter how many useful safety assist technologies Honda and Toyota want to introduce, they also need to cater to the beliefs of their customers. That means not only developing cars to perform well in consumer tests but actually approaching GNCAP and paying to have their cars rated even if it is a significant investment.

[mbit23]

Honda City 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbJtYodAsro

• No Ventilated Seats and 360 Degree Camera
• ADAS in Manual Variant also
• Wireless Charger Offered as an accessory

[MotorDev]

Is this called a facelift . Except ADAS and few exterior changes nothing has changed. Whatever information people gave like power seats etc were all fake. I knew that none of the changes like ventilated seats, etc would happen. After seeing the car, I feel the previous one is better. I don't care about adas, I can get the exterior changes in aftermarket with more sporty look. Look at the wireless charging pad, I can get a more proper one for a couple of 500 bucks. Honda has just given accessories in the name of facelift. Expecting wheel arch cladding and better quality is like dreaming. They didn't even provide adaptive guidelines for the rear view camea.


The infotainment does not have any changes, the UI if I may, the wallpaper for the infotainment has changed. They didn't provide whatever we asked, not even adjustable headrests for the rear passengers. The settings, camera quality everything is same. Adding accessories to the car is not called a facelift. After seeing this, I don't have any hope from honda now. Not even on the suv. The Hyundai verna is around the corner, slavia and virtus twins too are superior than the city. I'm a city fanboy, but seeing the facelift, sorry accessorised city 2023, I'm just disappointed


What hurts me is that, Honda, for adding few accessories will charge a big premium. The ADAS, oh I don't care about it. I don't really know How will Honda survive in India with these type of products. Honda's and Honda city's golden era has come to an end. Now both the company and the car are on deathbed. Oh i'm frustrated after seeing the car. Honda never disappoints in disappointing us.

[Dead_Pedal]

Well I think there's no space to slot in a wireless charger in the non e-hev variant(manual handbrake) hence the provision as an accessory. The useful cup holders are being sacrificed as well. There was another post a few days back wherein the wireless charger is nearly integrated in front of the driver armrest and behind the brake hold button. Anyways, I've never understood the utility of wireless chargers. They're too slow to charge. The guy in the video said there is improvement in the quality of the rear camera, great if true. Dynamic guidelines would have been a welcome addition as the Brazilian City gets it. All these features being omitted in a D segment car is unforgivable but this one's a C segment sedan, can't expect much. I hope they price it well else the unsafe Seltos will again feel super value for money.

[LordSharan]

Originally Posted by Flying Shadow

5). The Hybrids and ZX petrol variants to get new 16 inch new alloys and honeycomb grill and RS similar design. Automatic wipers and Ivory/Black interiors on ZX variants. Zx also gets new ambient lighting on doors.

Automatic wipers and ivory/black interiors are the two features that I am going to miss on my 2021 City. Will it be possible to retrofit them on 2021 city ZX MT variant? I've seen how beautifully automatic wipers work in nexon, and kind of bored with the beige interiors that my city has.

[arjab]

Hope they have stiffened up the rear spring rates to take care of the bouncy rear end ride, particularly at highway crusing speeds, >90kmph.

[LordSharan]

Originally Posted by LordSharan

Automatic wipers and ivory/black interiors are the two features that I am going to miss on my 2021 City. Will it be possible to retrofit them on 2021 city ZX MT variant? I've seen how beautifully automatic wipers work in nexon, and kind of bored with the beige interiors that my city has.

Sorry about the back to back post, just saw ivory is similar to beige (what's this update Honda?). Will pass.

Will check with service center if automatic wipers can be retrofitted in my next service.

[MotorDev]

Originally Posted by arjab

Hope they have stiffened up the rear spring rates to take care of the bouncy rear end ride, particularly at highway crusing speeds, >90kmph.

Do you expect a company which did not give any changes to the interior or features to improve mechanical features. I'm suprised that they atleast changed something in the exterior. Honda should wake up now as it is high time now !

[Venkatesh]

Honda City facelift ready for March 2 launch, test drives commence on March 3.

New Obsidian Blue paint shade











Source

[Nithesh_M]

Finally. Something other than black, white, red and grey from Honda. Now bring back the orange with the WRV.

[vvivek85]

What kind of effort is this from Honda, they have done very minimal changes and called that facelift. The other day I was doing an analysis, it was shocking to see that Honda is one brand that didn't launch any new cars in the last 5 years. The current cars Amaze, City, Jazz, and WRV are from 2018 and they didn't bother to bring in new cars in any other segment to capture the market. Even though I am aware that now they are testing Creta's competitor, but they have lost 5 golden years.

Now coming back to the facelift, I am reminded of this scene from famous Tamil spoof movie. Just for fun, no hard feelings