Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) on Tuesday hoped to clock positive sales from next month and also lead the sedan segment after the launch of its new City at ₹8.50 lakh and ₹13.57 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

In the past 10 months (between April 2016 and January 2017) of cumulative sales, Maruti Suzuki was the leader in the mid-size (A3) segment with 53,644 units against 45,395 units of City during the period.

However, in the same period last year (2015-16), Honda City was the market leader with 67,006 units against43,591 units of Maruti Suzuki’s Ciaz and others, such as Hyundai Verna and Skoda Rapid.

“With the launch of Honda City 2017, we aim to exceed customer expectations by offering value at a very competitive price. I am confident that with the new City, we will regain our leadership position in the segment,” Yoichiro Ueno, President and Chief Executive Officer, HCIL, told reporters here.

Takata airbags issue Asked about its recent recall over the Takata airbags issue and if that could impact sales here, too, Ueno said many of the recalls were made as a precautionary measure.

“The reason was because the inflators in the factories across the globe (including India) were not kept properly – it absorbed some humidity from the air, which could lead to unexpected explosion,” he said.

But, this has been rectified and now the airbags have proper checks. The manufacturing procedure is also completely different and the current airbags do not have any issues, he added.

Available in both petrol (1.5L i-VTEC) and diesel (1.5L i-DTEC) variants, the upgraded fourth generation City will compete closely with Ciaz, which is priced between ₹7.86 lakh and ₹9.96 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Improved features While the petrol variant for the new City is priced between ₹8.5 lakh and ₹13.52 lakh, the diesel option is priced between ₹10.76 lakh and ₹13.57 lakh (all prices ex-showroom, Delhi). On the new City, HCIL said it has a fuel economy of 17.4 kmpl (petrol) and 25.6 kmpl (diesel), adding that it has a wide range of high-tech exterior and interior features, such as advanced integrated LED day running light, inline LED headlamps, LED fog lamps, new 16-inch alloy wheels with wider tyres.

The interior includes an advanced touchscreen infotainment system, called the Digipad (in the V, VX and ZX grades), with features like satellite-linked navigation, voice recognition, Bluetooth telephony, audio streaming, 1.5 GB internal memory, 2 USB-in slots, 2 microSD card slots and 1 HDMI-in slot.

It also features the first in the segment to have Wi-Fi support for internet and mirror link support for smartphone connectivity, the company said.

Among the safety features, the new City has dual SRS front airbags, standard anti-lock brake system with electronic brake distribution, three-point ELR seat belts, impact mitigating front head rest system and pedestrian injury mitigation technology, HCIL added.

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