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Yes, you guessed it right! We are talking about Honda City. Honda recently announced that it has sold over 7 Lakh copies of City and indeed it was a big feat for the marquee. We decided to review the journey of this legendary sedan and are happy to present the findings –
Honda has sold 7,04,857 units of City in India till date in the past 236 months!
It is still one of the oldest model to have survived the product life cycle in the Indian market. Even legendary brands such Maruti 800, Hyundai Santro couldn’t evolve the way City has done so far.
City registered its ever highest sale of 9,777 units in the month of March 2015! However, it is yet to cross the 10k/month sales landmark in the Indian market.
The best year for City was 2015 where it sold 82,922 units (an average of 6,910 cars/mth!).
City still has the highest contribution to Honda’s sales in India. For 2017 (Jan to Nov), City contributed to over 35% of Honda’s sales in India!
India is the biggest market for City globally! Honda sells one in every four City sedans in India.
Honda has launched 4 generations of the City in India.
The latest generation of Honda City (4th Gen) has sold over 2.75 Lakh units in 46 months and has made it the best selling City ever from Honda!
Some interesting facts about the brand globally –
City was originally a hatchback (compact car) and was launched way back in 1981 in Japan. And at the time of its introduction, it was Honda’s smallest car!
Global 1st Generation Honda City
Owing to low sales numbers globally, Honda had to retire the Second Generation compact City in the year 1994. The nameplate was revived in 1996 for four-door sedans made primarily for developing nations in Asia, Latin America & Australia.
From 2002 to 2008, the City was also sold as the Honda Fit Aria in Japan!
As on date, the cumulative sales of the City has exceeded 3.6 million units in over 60 countries around the world since the nameplate was revived in 1996!
It is a compact sedan built on Honda’s Global Small Car platform, which it shares with the Fit/Jazz (a five-door hatchback), the Airwave/Partner (a wagon/panel van version of the Fit Aria/City), the Mobilio, and the Mobilio Spike—all of which share the location of the fuel tank under the front seats rather than rear seats.
Honda’s very existence in India has been defined by this model and it has stood the test of time to still be one of the best sellers in the segment. It has a cult fan following in the Indian market and yet commands one of the highest resale value amongst all brands. It’ll indeed be a difficult task for Honda to maintain the leadership category in an extremely competitive segment. As always, innovation and quality shall be the key for the same. While the next gen City is still far away (2019), we hope it continues the sales momentum in coming months.
All Four Generations in 1 Picture