Honda Says Nearly Nine Out of Ten Customers Preferring Civic Petrol Over Diesel

• Published On: 9 July 2019
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Honda Civic Sales; Only 10 Percent Customers Prefer Diesel Model

Honda skipped a few generation but finally brought back the iconic Civic sedan back in India at the beginning of March this year. The 10th generation model of Civic was launched in India by Honda after a gap of nearly 7 years, and yet the car is just as popular in the country as it was in its heydays. Usually the dream run of a car ends after a few months of the launch of the car and the sales figure for the vehicle stabilize. However, there is something special going on with Honda Civic as the car has been topping the sales charts ever since it was launched in the Indian market. Honda Civic locks horns with Hyundai Elantra, Toyota Corolla Altis and Skoda Octavia in the Indian market.

The Japanese carmaker has now revealed that a thumping majority of the customers of the Civic sedan are choosing petrol model over the diesel engine version. The diesel version of the car makes up only 10 percent of the total sales of the car. This number grows even stark when one takes the units sold into account. In June, Civic managed 2,291 units in sales and only 285 out of the total sales came from diesel models. This shows the changing preference of the customers in the market when it comes to buying a car.

Talking about the Civic sedan, Honda has priced the all-new Civic slightly higher than the rivals in the Indian market. Prices for Honda Civic begin at Rs 17.69 lakh for the base model and the top model comes in at Rs. 22.29 lakh, ex-showroom. Taking a look at the competition we find that Hyundai Elantra’s base model begins at Rs. 13.81 lakhs, Skoda offers the base model of its Octavia at Rs. 15.99 lakhs whereas Toyota has priced its Corolla Altis at Rs. 15.7 lakhs.

With an option for petrol and diesel engines, the petrol motor in Honda’s new executive sedan is a 1.8-litre 4-cylinder unit rated for Bhp and 174 Nm. While the diesel unit is a 1.6-litre mill rated for 118 Bhp and 300 Nm. While the petrol models come with a CVT automatic gearbox, the diesel models make do with a manual transmission only. Honda has also said that depending on the customer demand, a diesel automatic version could be launched as well. Talking about expected version, the performance version of Civic was spotted testing at company's factory in Greater Noida. However, the performance version is unlikely to make its way to India as the demand for performance cars in India in the sub-30 lakh segment is very small. Honda has introduced the Civic for a primarily urban customer segment that wanted to transition beyond Honda City and was looking for a more premium option.