Honda City Losing Ground In India — Beaten By Its Own Sibling For The First Time

Honda City's sales have been dropping over the last year, but in November 2016, the executive sedan witnessed less than 3,000 units sales. Once the Japanese automaker's best-selling and most consistent model, Honda was able to sell only 2,658 and 2,898 units in November and December 2016 respectively.

Interestingly, Honda's sub-four meter sedan, Amaze has notched up sales of 3,322 units in December 2016, overtaking the sales of the City for the first time.

The last time the Honda City's sales fell short of its own sibling was in September 2015 when company sold 5,702 units of the City, 875 units less than that of the Amaze.

According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Honda sold a total of 54,721 units of the City for the period of January - November 2016. The Honda Amaze sold a total of 32,066 units for the same period.

Honda introduced the premium sedan to the Indian market back in 1998 and has been the most consistent model in terms of sales for the company. Also, the City has been the only sedan to be the preferred car for the Indian customers but that seems to be losing sheen in the recent past.

The current City is the fourth generation model and the company is planning to launch the next-generation model by mid-2017 in hopes of reviving the sales of the sedan.

In recent times, the City has been facing stiff competition from Maruti Suzuki Ciaz. Maruti Suzuki has packaged the Ciaz well with the option of a mild hybrid and various features. The mild hybrid technology has helped the Ciaz to shed costs because of the incentives provided by the government of India under the FAME scheme.

The current generation Honda City is available in both diesel and petrol models and is priced in the range of Rs 8.21 lakh to Rs 12.55 lakh ex-showroom (Delhi).