Next-Gen Honda City – FrontView
As BharathAutos readers know that the highly anticipated 2014 Honda City will make its debut next-week (25th November 2013) before joining Honda India’s existing lineup early next-year. But before the official unveiling, we have not got any pictures of the upcoming City and this is because the company has appointed a ‘Secrecy Committee’ whose job is to ensure that no image of the City leaves Honda’s premises, let alone the car! Well, Honda has so far succeeded and this has only heightened the sense of anticipation for what, apart from being the best kept secret in the industry, is also currently the most awaited car.
The little details of 2014 Honda City sedan known at the moment, are as follows;
- Next-Gen City will be built on the 2014 Jazz/Fit platform
- The new City is likely to get larger in size compared to the current City
- Will feature a projector headlamps as its a segment standard (i.e Verna, Rapid)
- The 2014 City will feature new tail lights with LED ascents
- On the inside, the upcoming City will get more space for passengers with upmarket interiors
- All-new City will also be come with a 1.5-litre i-DTEC turbo diesel engine, to take the sales figures of the popular C-segment sedan to new heights
Under the hood, the Next-Gen City is expected to inherit the same 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine available in the current Honda City, along with a newly introduced most fuel efficient 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel engine already equipped in Honda Amaze. As the City is a much larger car than the Amaze, the 1.5-litre i-DTEC engine could be tuned to output extra torque to cope with the additional weight and will use the same Fixed Geometry Turbo (FGT) as in the Amaze and there won’t be a move to a Variable Geometry Turbo (VGT), which enhances power but is considerably more expensive too.
Next-Gen Honda City – RearView
Rather than changing any hardware to upgrade the performance and efficiency of this 1.5-litre i-DTEC turbo diesel engine, Honda is depending instead on ECU tuning. The NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) levels of the diesel Amaze is what the customers isn’isn’t happy about! Thus, based on a feedback the company has added a superior sound deadening material to cut the NVH in the 2014 City. A Honda engineer confirmed, “The City is in a higher class than the Amaze and we need to make it more refined.”
Pricing seems to be the biggest problem for the Japanese car manufacturer, before the launch of Amaze compact sedan, the City had enough gap to be priced (and even discounted) but now with the Amaze occupying a lower price point, the 2014 City should be priced reasonably. Thus, Honda has taken advantage to fill the vacant place of the Civic saloon with new City, as far as pricing is considered. However, with a high amount of localization on the next-generation City, we expect it to be priced slightly higher than the current-variant.
The unveil of the 2014 Honda City will happen next-week, while production is likely to begin only in January-2014. The new City will also be showcased at the 2014 Auto Expo alongside new Jazz and Mobilio MPV. The actual deliveries of the car could also begin in March-April 2014. Honda car dealers in India have already begun accepting an unofficial bookings at the payment of Rs. 50,000 and also confirmed that the new diesel-powered City will be available, ever since the launch.
Also see – Spy Shots – 2014 Honda City spotted again undergoing road-testing
2015 Honda City all-set to launch in India by March/April-2014, unofficial bookings taken
Source – AutoCarIndia
Image Credit – Car and Driver
