The 2014 Honda City (First Look: Page 12)

[Ajay Sreedhar]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

I believe the New City would be bigger, now that Amaze is in, and Civic is out.

So, definitely, Honda is looking for a premium sedan with the New City.

Premium Sedan. A big Yes. But they can't or i would say "should not" price it higher than may be a verna or vento. The top end diesel should be made 12-13 lakh OTR. If this is the case then I will not be looking at verna whenever I plan to buy a sedan. Vento can cause a challenge as its a 1.6 engine and a european build. Anything greater than 13 lakhs will encourage buyers to extend their budget and get a passat, octavia, laura
(Low or mid variant)

 

[dhanesh]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

Premium Sedan. A big Yes. But they can't or i would say "should not" price it higher than may be a verna or vento. The top end diesel should be made 12-13 lakh OTR. If this is the case then I will not be looking at verna whenever I plan to buy a sedan. Vento can cause a challenge as its a 1.6 engine and a european build. Anything greater than 13 lakhs will encourage buyers to extend their budget and get a passat, octavia, laura
(Low or mid variant)

That is so true in surat the Elantra base diesel is around 15Lac OTR which is the entry level in manual transmission currently the top of the line manual Honda City without the sunroof is around 10.50 lac OTR surat so if the prices(Diesel) overlap or near about with a bigger car let say 13.5 lac for the top of the line city it would be worth putting in a bit more and getting a bigger car. So I expect the prices to be around 12 lac top anything more people will shift the larger car or even to the verna which is around 12.3 lac OTR for the Crdi SX with option which has all the gizmos.
But having said that the City will have the 1.5L IDtec engine which I believe gets some tax benefits over the 1.6 Diesel of the verna please correct me if I am wrong. Hence Honda can definitely fit the price bracket or even try and price it very close to the verna as they did with the amaze pricing compared to the hot selling Dzire.

 

[Ajay Sreedhar]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

That is so true in surat the Elantra base diesel is around 15Lac OTR which is the entry level in manual transmission currently the top of the line manual Honda City without the sunroof is around 10.50 lac OTR surat so if the prices(Diesel) overlap or near about with a bigger car let say 13.5 lac for the top of the line city it would be worth putting in a bit more and getting a bigger car. So I expect the prices to be around 12 lac top anything more people will shift the larger car or even to the verna which is around 12.3 lac OTR for the Crdi SX with option which has all the gizmos.
But having said that the City will have the 1.5L IDtec engine which I believe gets some tax benefits over the 1.6 Diesel of the verna please correct me if I am wrong. Hence Honda can definitely fit the price bracket or even try and price it very close to the verna as they did with the amaze pricing compared to the hot selling Dzire.

This is where Honda's thinking caps will be checked. The same will be the case when jazz/fit will be launched. If priced below amaze, it will eat up sales of amaze and if prized higher, it will be the same old mistake.

If city low end is priced at par with amaze top end. That will eat up amaze too. People will prefer city over amaze.

If they are OK with people's choice of city over amaaze. Then Production capacity is a hurdle with new rajasthan plant in its initial days of setup during city launch. lots of thinking

They price aggressively (which I feel they will do), then the people (buyers) will be a happy lot

 

[nkonamme]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

HONDA CITY DIESEL UPDATES:
1)Marginal power increase over amaze(No VGT to boost performance)
2)Higher price

Source: Secret City | Blog Entry | Autocar India

 

[Indian]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

HONDA CITY DIESEL UPDATES:
1)Marginal power increase over amaze(No VGT to boost performance)
2)Higher price

Source: Secret City | Blog Entry | Autocar India

hmmm, thats not good news atleast for me if true.
Well I seriously doubt if Honda is going to move up the rank by placing City to next level as we all know its City and should belong to Verna, Vento, Rapid, Fiesta category. More over its a global model, for India yes anything works(read Duster, Terrano) but what about the other countries? I highly doubt if people are going to accept this move. Unless Honda renames it to something else.
Yes being a new car there will be a premium, and plus diesel overhead of about 1~1.5 L, that would take the high end Diesel to probably 14.5 OTR, but that is the max they can go. Anything beyond 'another Jazz story' IMO!

 

[350Z]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

@ Mods, is TAI covering the event?

Yup. We’re covering the launch event as usual. Keep a check on this thread on 25th for live updates.

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[Bopanna]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

Rushlane article hints that the City may be a "little expensive and feature-rich".

I'm all for it if those pricey features are safety related - not show-off gadgetry. Something like projector lamps, touchscreen HU, rearview cam and chrome etc, if part of standard kit, only add to the ex-showroom price, so one ends up paying a hefty road tax (esp if the critical 10L threshold is crossed in Karnataka). Instead, Honda would do well to offer that kind of gadgetry as accessories, which are entirely optional. Honda: please don't indulge in one-upmanship with Hyundai in providing more number of gadgets in the car.

I hope Honda won't get carried away with "High Tech, High Touch and High Tension", and just stick to it's core strengths - reliability, safety and ease of driving.

 

[rahulgupta3101]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

hmmm, thats not good news atleast for me if true.
Well I seriously doubt if Honda is going to move up the rank by placing City to next level as we all know its City and should belong to Verna, Vento, Rapid, Fiesta category. More over its a global model, for India yes anything works(read Duster, Terrano) but what about the other countries? I highly doubt if people are going to accept this move. Unless Honda renames it to something else.
Yes being a new car there will be a premium, and plus diesel overhead of about 1~1.5 L, that would take the high end Diesel to probably 14.5 OTR, but that is the max they can go. Anything beyond 'another Jazz story' IMO!

It is surely not a good news.City should be priced around the same bracket as of now(petrol-powered one).The diesel version would command 1L premium with the corresponding petrol versions.This would take City to max 12.5 OTR.

And,14.5 OTR for a jap build mid-level sedan is a sure-shot recipe for failure.Atleast I won't get one for that price.There are much better build products in that bracket!!

 

[Indian]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

It is surely not a good news.City should be priced around the same bracket as of now(petrol-powered one).The diesel version would command 1L premium with the corresponding petrol versions.This would take City to max 12.5 OTR.

And,14.5 OTR for a jap build mid-level sedan is a sure-shot recipe for failure.Atleast I won't get one for that price.There are much better build products in that bracket!!

Rahul, in Karnataka the top end Verna Diesel costs 14L
That is why I said 14.5 L for Honda D top end
But we also have to account for City will have 1.5 Ltr engine vs Verna's 1.6 Ltr. If I am correct there should be some excise benefit to City. Hope Honda does not get too greedy.

 

[Ajay Sreedhar]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

After having tasted amaze's success and still going strong, I don't think they will repeat the same old mistake and still manage to price it higher than required. Not more than 14.5 L for the City top-end.I second that.

Having said that Honda City was selling more than verna (only petrols). With diesel mill, its only one way its heading and its north. *

(* if priced aggressively)

Hope Honda guys are reading our forum

 

[nishant5858]

The 2014 Honda City

Completely agree with Ajay, Honda will not repeat mistake again. Well let's break it up, Rapid is the cheapest next is Vento, Verna(All Diesels). I think the new City will be around 15-20k more expensive then Vento/Verna. Among these the Verna is the costliest and Honda will Price it at par with Verna. No one complained about Verna's price, same will be for New City.

Yes, The Petrol only City was selling more then Petrol Verna. The addition of diesel will definitely up its game.

Yes, The City will be getting some benefit because it's a 1.5L Engine. So I think the benefit will either be digested by Honda or will be included in the Price Announcement.

Honda is aiming for Improvement in Global Sales especially South East Asian Markets. So India is a big market, that's why they have slew of launches coming up in 2014. So all in all this will be the Year for Honda and having tasted success with Amaze, they'll price their new products competitively.

 

[Bopanna]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

Honda knows that competition is waiting in the wings in the C2 segment. We already know about:

1. MSIL's YL1 Sedan
2. VW plans to fit vento with a 1.5L TDI this year which will allow them to save some excise
3. Fiat's Linea facelift launch
4. Verna facelift : the 2014 Accent has already been revealed in US

City can beat each of these individually, but all combined are still a menacing competition to City. For Amaze, Honda probably had only 1 direct competitor, but not so for the City - so all the more reason for Honda to tread cautiously in the pricing front.

I think Honda will launch the City at attractive price without compromising profitability - but will do calibrated price hikes depending on the demand.

One way to achieve this is launch at a wide price band - instead of the current City's Corporate/E/S/V, Honda can probably have E/S/V/Z editions - the topend Z will be the marquee - all bells and whistles at a premium. E/S/V will be reasonably priced, to stave off the competition.

PS: The topend Verna Diesel @14L is probably the CRDi AT. Honda is not going to launch a diesel AT, so I doubt it will go as high as 14.5L

 

[Ajay Sreedhar]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

90 hours for the launch and no spy pics yet

 

[Godfather]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

I echo the thought process of Bopanna & Ajay here. If Honda has to climb the ladders then they should aggressively price not only City but other models like Jazz, Mobilio etc. If they make it expensive then as stated earlier the competition from Maruti, VW, Hyundai will force them to lower the prices (they did massive price cut in 2011) which will result in diminishing the Honda brand value. So let's all hope that Honda will come up with a smart move!

 

[anshuman8]

Re: The 2014 Honda City

So much so discussed about the prices, here are prices for last sold Honda City (in BLR)

City -

City Corporate : Rs. 751,721
City 1.5 E MT : Rs. 821,976
City 1.5 S MT : Rs. 885,711
City 1.5 V MT : Rs. 939,947
City 1.5 SAT : Rs. 951,000
City 1.5 V AT : Rs. 1,005276
City 1.5 V L MT(AVN) : Rs. 1,007,000
City 1.5 V MT Sunroof : Rs. 1,015,320
City 1.5 V AT Sunroof : Rs. 1,090,649

I think they would retain same prices for petrol versions and 1.25 - 1.5 lac premium on diesel ones.