Honda’s fourth-gen City surpasses 250,000 sales in India

Honda Cars India has announced that its fourth-generation City sedan, launched in January 2014, has crossed the 250,000 sales landmark. This model, which continues to be a favourite with car buyers in India, saw the Japanese carmaker introduce a diesel engine option for the very first time.

The City has been the key product for Honda’s portfolio in India and a major sales and revenue driver for the company. With retail sales of the petrol variants having started in February 2014, just a month after the diesel was introduced, Honda has recorded cumulative retail sales of 250,564 units until June 2017. Fuel-wise, till end-May 2017, 149,475 petrol-engined Citys have been sold as compared to 97,350 diesel variants, marking a 60 percent share of the petrol variants, with 30 percent of that from the CVT trims. 

With sales for the last six months from January-June 2017 averaging a shade over 5,700 units, the car has been able to accomplish this feat towards the end of this month, with cumulative numbers closing at 250,564 units in June 2017. 

Over the past three-and-a-half years, the City has sold equitably across North, South and West India with each accounting for 30-odd percent of sales and the eastern region with 11 percent.  

The fourth-gen City clocked sales of 77,346 units in its initial phase until end of 2014, and went on to register year-on-year (YoY) growth of 7.2 percent with sales of 82,922 units in CY2015. CY2016, however, saw a dramatic slowdown in sales, with 57,619 units being sold until the year end, losing out most of its volumes to the strongest competitor, the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, which also had strengthened its offensive with a mild-hybrid option, bringing in significant subsidy price benefits to customers, as compared to the City.

Honda sharpened its attack in early 2017, bringing in the facelifted City which now got high-on-customer demand features including newly designed alloy wheels and a new top-of-the-line ZX variant, LED lamps all around, six airbags and also a touch-screen infotainment system.

Commenting on the 250,000 sales milestone, Yoichiro Ueno, president and CEO, Honda Cars India, said, “The City is an important pillar of Honda’s business and success in India. With its new generation technologies, the fourth-generation City meets our customers’ aspirations for a premium product. It is also a testimony of our commitment to bring the best models and technologies for our customers in India.”

A winner globally
Since the launch of the first-generation City nearly 20 years ago, which marked the entry of the Japanese carmaker to India, Honda has sold over 680,000 units also marking the entry of the Japanese brand in the Indian market. Globally, the fourth-generation City has breached sales of a million units with China, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia being some of the other major markets for the car. 

With sales for the last five months from January-May 2017 averaging a shade over 5,700 units, the car has been able to accomplish this feat towards the end of this month, with cumulative numbers closing at 250,274 units in June 2017.