Honda Civic with diesel engine imported for R&D

Thanks to BHPian avishar for sharing this information with other enthusiasts.

With the D1 segment shrinking, Honda discontinued the Civic in India in 2012. The Civic was among the cars to suffer the most in the segment due to the lack of a diesel engine - back then, diesel was considerably cheaper than petrol. Now however, there is a slim chance that Honda could be mulling a reintroduction of the Civic in India. A search on import-export tracker website zauba.com has revealed that Honda has imported a Civic into the country for R&D purpose. The car has a 1.6-litre diesel engine and is a left-hand drive.

Earlier this year, Honda has told us that it could be a long time before a new Civic is considered for India. Additionally, Honda has been known to test certain vehicles in the country and not actually launching them - remember the CR-V diesel?

Honda has had a lot of success with it diesel -powered cars of late. The Amaze and City sedans have enjoyed good sales and the 1.5-litre i-DTEC engine has gained a reputation for being very frugal. The 1.6-litre engine in the Civic is likely to be very efficient as well. It is possible that Honda could use this engine in the Accord and CR-V as well.