All car manufacturers in India are aware of the fact that how high is the demand for diesel cars. To get benefit from the situation, earlier there has been fresh speculation about Honda launching a diesel variant of its flagship City sedan in the Indian market, as early as this year. But now as per official report, the company has no plans to launch Honda City in diesel guise in the year 2012.
In fact, the company has apparently ruled out launch of any of the model in diesel variant in 2012. Speculations were rife that Honda will bring its premium sedan Civic with a diesel heart, but now it seems Honda Civic diesel launch will take time. Currently, the company does not have any diesel car in its India portfolio.
Due to the lack of diesel variants in Honda’s fleet of cars, consumers are opting for other options available in the market. Honda is aggressively working on the development of new line of diesel engines; the company has also deputed ex-Formula1 engineers for the development of these engines. A 1.6-liter i-DTEC turbo diesel engine was recently unveiled by Honda, the engine can churn out 120 bhp of robust power and a splendid 300 Nm of toque.
Meanwhile, this engine is will power the upcoming 2012 Honda Civic sedan. Honda is also believed to be developing a small diesel engine which will be housed in the Honda’s hatchbacks, Jazz and Brio. If rumours are to be believed, Honda will exhibit another small size engine at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show.
Also see – Honda to introduce Civic diesel by end-2012
