News has come that Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL) have decided to discontinue two of its models, namely the Civic and CR-V from its India line-up. This comes on the backdrop of the automaker shutting down its longstanding manufacturing facility in Greater Noida. The Civic and CR-V remained to be two of Honda’s premium offerings here, but now it is the City that will be taking the mantle away from the two.
At present, Honda will continue to sell models such as the Amaze, Jazz, WR-V and both generations of the City. It will now be produced at the automaker’s other plant located in Tapukara, Rajasthan. The above facility resides with a capacity of 1.8 lakh units per annum.
Honda had inaugurated its Greater Noida plant way back in 1997 and it still remains a surprise as to why the automaker have seized their operations out there. However, it will still continue to be Honda’s head office operations, which includes its two-wheeler arm and power product business. Other than that, it will also house it’s India R&D centre and spare parts manufacturing.
The Civic, which was sold in its 10th generation here up until now, made a comeback to the market in 2017, roughly five years after it was first phased out. However, the Civic neither recreated the numbers of its original nor live up to its expectations, majorly due to the dilution of the premium sedan segment here. Earlier this year, the Civic had its rivals in the form of the Hyundai Elantra and Skoda Octavia, but the latter was discontinued in the wake of the BS-VI emission norms.
But Skoda have confirmed that the next generation of the Octavia will be here in 2021, with only the Elantra being its sole competitor for then. Nevertheless, the Civic used to be available with options of a 1.6 litre diesel motor and a 1.8 litre petrol motor. The petrol variant of the Civic could be bought with a 6-speed CVT transmission, with the diesel variant of the car getting the 6-speed manual one.
The CR-V, unlike the Civic was in a much more competitive space. The current generation of the car was introduced here in 2018 in a bid to shake up the segment back then. But on the other hand, its sales were seeing a sharp decline to such an extent that the car fails to register the three-digit mark today when it comes to its monthly sales numbers.
This was largely due to much proven rivals that existed in the space by virtue of which the CR-V remained a shadow of its earlier self. A part of the reason was also the unavailability of a diesel motor, which is seen on models such as the Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour, Mahindra Alturas and the recently released MG Gloster. The CR-V came with only a 2.0 litre petrol motor at its disposal, which had a 6-speed CVT transmission.
As for now, there are a few stock models of both cars left, which the company will be more than willing to sell with heavy discounts. However, it remains to be seen whether Honda will eventually bring back the Civic and CR-V in their future iterations here or not. But whatever happens in the future, both the Civic and CR-V have left behind an impressive legacy here with a number of its owners still using them in good condition today.
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