New City variant to hit roads soon

Honda Siel Car will launch a new variant of the hugely successful sedan, City, equipped with new safety features such as anti-lock brake system, already available with its high-end models (Civic, Accord and CRV), to grab a higher market share.

City with 3.8 per cent market share in the A3 mid -car segment remains the highest selling car. It sold 29,308 units till December 2006. Ford Fiesta comes second best with 2.7 per cent market share (20,431 units sold till December last year).

The new City variant is expected to be priced around Rs 800,000 (ex-showroom Delhi), slightly higher than the other three variants currently available, and could be out in the third quarter (July- September) of CY07.

Masahiro Takedagawa, president, HSCI, told Business Standard: "We have already upgraded all other models (Accord and CRV), with only City left out. To meet customer demand and maintain our leadership position in the mid segment, we will add some new safety features in City."

HSCI also plans to roll out in the next two years a new small car, currently being developed at its R&D centre at Tochigi near Tokyo in Japan. The car will be manufactured at the company's new facility in Rajasthan.