It’s been a while since we’ve seen Honda graced us with a new launch. However, things are about to change as Honda will be revealing the City Hybrid on April 14. Going by the official teaser, the City hybrid will be dubbed the City E-HEV. The City E-HEV will be the cheapest ‘strong hybrid’ that you will be able to buy in India, unlike the Maruti Ciaz which is a mild hybrid. It is expected to be priced above ₹16 lakh and it will go up against the likes of the Skoda Slavia 1.5 TSI. Some dealers have also started accepting bookings for the same unofficially.
What to expect
The Honda City hybrid will be fitted with the 1.5L petrol engine paired with a dual electric motor, the car will produce 109ps of max power and 253Nm of peak torque. Alone this 1.5L engine produces 98hp of max power and 127Nm of torque. With the hybrid engine combination, it is expected that the City will return 28-30kmpl of the overall average. And these figures will be the best in the segment.
The Honda City hybrid will come with Honda’s i-MMD hybrid technology which is also used by the other Honda cars in their global portfolio. The hybrid setup is also likely to enable three drive modes – one where just the electric motors are used, one where just the internal combustion engine runs (a lock-up clutch sends power to the wheels directly), and a third which allows for a combination of both.
Honda City: a quick recap
The all-New 5th Generation Honda City is the longest and widest sedan in its segment. The newly introduced 1.5L i-VTEC DOHC engine with VTC in petrol version and a 1.5L i-DTEC diesel engine offers brisk performance and good fuel efficiency. The 5th Generation City is a connected car with Alexa remote capability and is equipped with a next-generation Honda Connect with telematics control unit as a standard offering across all grades with a 5-year free subscription and over 32 connected features.
The newly designed platform is equivalent to ASEAN N-CAP 5-star rating. The City comes with a host of features like full LED headlamps, a Z-shaped wrap-around LED Tail lamp, 17.7 cm HD full-colour TFT meter with G-meter, lane watch camera, and vehicle stability assist (VSA) with Agile Handling Assist (AHA), etc.