The Honda City has been the steadiest flagship for the Japanese automaker ever since its launch in the early 1980’s. It is time for another major facelift for the car which can be expected to launch in the market around the festive season of this year.

This C-segment sedan has seen many facelifts and minor tweaks in over 3 decades of its shelf life. It has put up a strong fight with different rivals like the Maruti Ciaz, the Skoda Rapid, the Hyundai Verna, and the Volkswagen Vento over the years. Neither the popularity of the car among the buyers, nor the Company’s enthusiasm regarding the model has diminished over the years.

On 22^nd January this year, the Company had launched a new all-black themed variant of the Honda City and it soon became a part of the main flagship. However, it is now time for the base model to undergo some changes so that the shelf life of the car may be further increased as it gets ready to take on the new sedans of this generation.

There has not been much news about the details of the facelift. Honda has been taking feedback from its City sedan customers and its other customers to figure out what is in demand in the present market. From the surveys so far it has been found that the current owners and potential buyers would like an improved NVH package along with a more powerful engine for the diesel variant.

As far as the cosmetic changes are concerned, reports say that there will be a redesigned bumper to give the car a refreshed look. The rear bumper too will be redesigned to fit the style of the front fascia. There will be a new alloy wheel design and a few new options for the exterior paint.

The interiors will remain the same mostly, with chances of a few upgrades to the technology. There will most probably be a 6.2-inch touchscreen system with automatic climate control. A premium audio system with 8 speakers is also on the cards. Apart from these there will be an electric sunroof, cruise control, and start/stop button for the engine. A 7-inch infotainment system might also be on the cards as a pleasant addition.

The new generation Honda City will be optimized to accommodate the latest safety features which come as standard across the medium to top trims for most cars and also as standard for the base trim of the best cars. The features will include ABS with EBD. There will be the rear parking sensor facility, and anti-theft alarm features. Also, there will be child safety lock, and smart card entry, day-night optimized rear view mirror, and impact beams for the front and sides.

The rivals for the 2016 Honda City will remain the current versions of the same old archenemies, the Hyundai Verna, the Skoda Rapid, and the Volkswagen Vento, apart from of course, the primary rival, the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz. However, looking at the sales figures of the rivals through the past months, there seems to be no competition at all in the segment for the City.

Honda Cars India, the leading premium car maker of the country is all braced up with its new launches this year. While the Japanese car major has the much awaited BR-V compact SUV and the new Accord hybrid up its sleeves as the new launches this year, the company is also going to offer a range of facelift models of its existing products.

Honda India has already launched the new updated Honda Amaze compact sedan, and is preparing to launch the new refreshed models of the Mobilio MPV and its bestselling model the City premium sedan. Reports already said that the Honda Mobilio MPV model will get a refresh this year. The MPV will flaunt new interiors along with some minor exterior changes and is likely to hit the market towards the end of 2016. As per the latest reports, the Japanese auto giant also as a new refreshed City on the cards.

The new 2016 Honda City facelift is aimed at beating the rising competition and is expected to come with a rather extensive makeover in order to be armed up to reinforce its leading position in the very popular mid-sized sedan or C-segment of India.

According to a latest report, Honda Cars India will be introducing the City’s facelift model in the domestic car market of India during this year’s festive season. The ongoing City sedan’s model which is in its fourth generation was launched back in the month of January 2014. The company also only recently launched an updated model that comes with a black colored interior as an additional variant.

The upcoming refreshed Honda City sedan model is expected to get an extensive makeover and will get many new cosmetic changes both on its exterior as well as interior. This premium sedan is expected to get restyled bumpers, newly styled alloy wheels as well as mildly revised front radiator grille. The cabin of the sedan is likely to remain largely unchanged, excepting some upgrades to the dashboard design and the addition of a new steering wheel as well as new seat upholstery.

Under the hood, the 2016 Honda facelift is likely to remain the same without any changes in terms of powertrains. Thus, it will be retaining its current engine range which means the same 1.5 liter i-VTEC motor developing a max 119 PS of power and a peak torque of 145 Nm. The engine is equipped with a 5 speed manual transmission gearbox, while there is also a CVT automatic gearbox option. On the other hand, the City diesel version will also continue with the same 1.5 liter i-DTEC motor which offers a max power of 100 PS and 200 Nm of top torque. The engine will be mated to the same 6 speed manual transmission gearbox. However, Honda is expected to improve the new refreshed City’s ride experience by offering enhanced Noise Vibration Harshness or NVH levels as compared against the existing Honda City model.

Japanese car major, Honda Motor is reportedly getting braced up to unveil its star performing sedan, City’s refreshed new model in the Indian market soon. The Japanese car giant’s Indian presence, Honda Cars India is said to be contemplating to take the wraps off its bestselling City sedan’s facelift model in India at the 2016 Auto Expo that will be held in the month of February.

Honda Cars India launched the 6th generation model of the globally popular sedan, City in January last year along with its first time diesel avatar. The new-gen Honda City became immediately immensely popular in the Indian car market and quickly regained its long lost top position in the Indian C-segment by overthrowing the popular Hyundai Verna. The upcoming City facelift will be thus, coming after two years in order to refresh customer interest in the car in the country with massive market competition.

Being a facelift model, the 2016 Honda City sedan is expected to be getting a number of updates which are only cosmetic in nature, while the car is not expected to get none or very little mechanical updates. Under its hood, the 2016 Honda City facelift model is expected to retain the same petrol as well as diesel engines, while its transmission choices are also expected to be same as well.

As per a recent report from a popular Indian car portal, the new facelift Honda City will be getting design cues from the Crider sedan model that is offered for sale in the Chinese car market. The car is expected to flaunt many updated styling elements. It will retain the same thick chrome horizontal slat radiator grille that is a patent styling element from the Japanese car major’s new design language, while it will be getting refreshed headlights as well as bumper design which will be similar to that of the new generation Honda Jazz premium hatchback. The facelift model’s rear design is expected to flaunt new C-shaped tail light design, while the reverse lights as well as indicators will be placed in the middle.

The refreshed Honda City’s interior will be getting a 15.7 cm touchscreen, audio system with hands free telephony, automatic climate control system, paddle shift, power panoramic sunroof, cruise control and satellite navigation system. The sedan’s safety features are expected to include front and side impact beams, airbags, ABS with EBD, anti-theft alarm, rear parking sensor and child safety locks.

The new 2016 Honda City facelift will be carrying over the same 1.5 liter i-VTEC petrol mill that is capable of developing a max power of 117 bhp and a peak torque of 145 Nm. The engine is mated to a 5 speed manual as well as a CVT gearbox. The car will also retain the same 1.5 liter i-DTEC diesel unit that can generate a top power of 99 bhp and 200Nm of peak torque and is coupled with a 6 speed manual transmission gearbox.

Car recall exercises have been so common in the recent past that they are not considered to stain a car brand’s name and fame, anymore. Car recalls, due to their heavy frequency world-wide, are now considered to be the auto makers’ efforts to correct its mistakes and precautionary measures to safeguard the customers. However, the risk of owing a faulty car remains, and the recalled cars’ owners can’t stop feeling anxious about the safety of driving such cars with potential malfunctioning parts.

Like many global auto majors, especially the Japanese car majors, Honda Motors has been also struck with a massive phase of recalls that involves multiple issues in several of its popular car models across the world. Recently, Honda Motors has been detected with the more serious case of faulty parts in its global recall exercise, and now the company is again calling back number of its vehicles in India.

The Japanese auto major will be recalling 90,210 vehicles including its popular premium sedan, City and the compact multi-purpose vehicle, Mobilio in the Indian car market in order to inspect and replace a faulty part.

The recalled vehicles from the house of Honda Cars India that involves its bestselling City sedan and the Mobilio MPV have been manufactured in the time period between the month of December 2013 and July 2015. These vehicles have potentially defective fuel return pipes. However, it is also to be noted, that only the diesel variants of these two vehicles are involved in this recall exercise and not their petrol counterparts.

Honda Motors’ fully owned Indian subsidiary, Honda Cars India Ltd has said in a company statement that the company will recall 64,428 units of the Honda City Diesel version that have been manufactured from December 2013 till July 2015, and 25,782 units of the Honda Mobilio Diesel models that have been produced from June 2014 till July 2015 in order to replace the potentially defective fuel return pipe of these models.

A company statement said that there is a possibility that in some units of these mentioned models, the fuel return pipe could come out that would result in fuel leakage and the resultant engine stoppage.

The statement added that Honda Cars India will replace the fuel return pipe and the related parts in the involved vehicles free of charges at the authorized Honda dealerships across the country, starting from 19th of December, 2015 in a phased manner and the company will individually contact the owners of such vehicles.

Very recently, in September this year, Honda India had announced to recall about 2.24 lakh units of its CR-V premium SUV, Civic sedan, City sedan and the Jazz premium hatchback models that were manufactured between the years’ of 2003 and 2012 in order to replace the defective airbag inflators which can be potentially dangerous and life threatening, as they may explode with tremendous force shooting shrapnel at the occupants of the vehicles injuring them fatally.

There has been certainly no looking back for Honda Cars India Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of the Japanese car major Honda Motor. Ever since, the launch of its first diesel car in the Indian car market – the Amaze, the company has been churning out one after the other hit new car models like the new generation City premium sedan, all new Mobilio MPV and this year’s launch, the new generation Jazz premium hatchback. All these new model launches in India, made the Japanese car major swell really well in terms of demands and sales. The company had to increase the production capacity for its new launches while compromising on the production of its older popular models to cater to the demands of the domestic Indian car market.

However, Honda Cars India does not have any intensions of slowing down and has many big plans for the Indian market. The company is also planning to launch its brand new BR-V compact crossover in India pretty soon. This only means that Honda will be experiencing more production constrains after its other new launches come into the picture, which will jeopardize the production and sales of some of the popular Honda models in India. Thus, in order to solve its production capacity issues Honda Cars India apart from planning on a new facility has also decided to invest heavily on its current two manufacturing facilities in order to increase their production capacity.

Honda Cars India will be investing around Rs. 600 crore in its two existing manufacturing plants – one of which is located in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh and the other at Tapukara, in Rajasthan. This whopping amount of investment will be used to rev up the manufacturing capacity as well as the R&D capabilities of Honda India.

Honda’s cumulative investment in India till now is Rs. 7,238 crore and the new investment will take it to about Rs. 7,800 crore.

The senior vice president at Honda Cars India, Raman Kumar Sharma revealed to the media that within this financial year, an investment of additional Rs. 500 to Rs. 600 crore would go into increasing the production capacity of the company’s Tapukara plant from the current 1,20,000 vehicles to the planned 1,80,000 vehicles per annum, while the company will also be boosting R&D department at its Greater Noida facility.

Honda India’s Greater Noida factory spreads over 150 acres of land and has the production capacity of 1,20,000 units per year. Few year ago, the company started an elementary Research & Development center at the facility, which will be upgraded to a full-fledged facility with an expected additional employment of 250 to 300 people.

Honda India’s newer Tapukara facility is spread over an extensive 437 acres of land, which offer ample opportunity for production capacity expansion unlike the Greater Noida plant.

Honda is aiming to expand from all aspects. It is planning to open 45 new outlets across India taking the total number to 300 from the current 255 by the end of this fiscal.

The Honda Amaze compact sedan is a very important car model that proved to be a huge game changer for Honda Car India. Prior to the Amaze’s launch, Honda India was always struggling to get a sustainable amount of sales volume, but post this entry level sedan’s launch in India, things changed rapidly for the company.

The Honda Amaze became the instant fortune changer from Honda Cars India. Being the company first diesel car in India, the Amaze not only marked the company venture into the Indian diesel car market, but also helped it to become one of the top car makers of India in a very short span of time. The Honda Amaze became an instant success in the domestic car market owing to its good looks, diesel engine option, great fuel economy and affordable pricing. The Amaze was also the most fuel efficient car in India before the new City and then the others came into the picture. Not only all this, the Honda Amaze also became the first car in India to challenge the indomitable ruler of the segment – the Marut Swift DZire.

Launched in 2013, the Honda Amaze compact sedan received overwhelming response, and Honda Cars India has managed to sell around 5,000 units of the car ever since. However, the launch of the other popular cars from Honda India seemed to have definitely impacted the demands of the Amaze. After the all new City sedan’s launch in early 2014, the Amaze’s glory dwindled a bit, and now with the launch of the new generation Jazz hatchback, the Amaze seems to be in a troubled situation. Honda Cars India has also shifted its attention from the Amaze to its bestselling model City and the new Jazz when production is concerned. This is because the company is not able to handle the market demands despite running both its facility’s on their full capacity.

The new-gen Honda Jazz premium hatch launched in July this year, and being the latest product it is currently enjoying Honda’s priority, while the City is always on top of the priority list, as it is the company’s highest selling model in India.

The fact that the popular Honda Amaze is getting hampered both on the demands and the production front is evident from Honda’s August sales. Honda Cars India sold 5,405 units of the City, 5,404 units of the Jazz and delivered only 3,260 units of the Amaze which is around 30-40 percent lesser than its usual average monthly sales. This is clear that the Honda Amaze’s sales is getting slaughtered by the rising demands of the City and the Jazz, while Honda is also producing lesser numbers of the car due to its production constraints.

However, Honda Car India is acting fast to solve its production shortage issue. The company is planning a new facility in Gujarat, which is expected to get operational by early next year, which would solve the company’s current production capacity exhaustion issue.

Japanese car maker Honda Motor just like its fellow Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor, has been troubled with faulty airbags issue for quite some time now. Every now and then, the Japanese car makers including Nissan are known to recall their cars in order to fix some defective part or the other, but the most common malfunctioning part has been the important safety feature – airbags.

Now, the Japanese car major’s Indian subsidiary Honda Cars India will be making a huge vehicle recall. The company will be recalling about 2.24 lakh vehicles from the domestic car market of India in order to fix the problem of faulty airbags. The recalled Honda vehicles in India which have the defective airbags problem include the Honda CR-V premium sports utility vehicle, the Honda Civic and Honda City premium sedan models and the Honda Jazz premium hatchback model. All the mentioned recalled vehicle models from the house of Honda were manufactured between the years of 2003 and 2012.

This will be Honda Cars India’s largest such recall exercise till date. The car major will be carrying out this recall drive in India in order to check and replace the faulty airbags that have malfunctioning inflators.

This major vehicle recall in India by Honda Cars India is actually a part of its Japanese parent company’s global recall initiative in order to replace the defective airbags. As per the company statement, Honda Cars India will voluntarily replace the airbag inflators of 2,23,578 vehicle units of the previous generation models of the CR-V, Civic, City and the Jazz in India.

This massive recall initiative will be covering 13,073 units of the Honda CR-V that were manufactured between 2004 and 2011; 54,290 units of the Honda Civic premium sedan made between 2003 and 2012; 1,40,508 units of the very popular Honda City premium sedan manufactured between 2007 and 2012; and 15,707 units of the Honda Jazz premium hatchback that were rolled out between 2009 and 2011, add the company statement.

Honda Cars India also said that the replacement procedure will be carried out free of charges at all the authorized dealerships of the company across the country in a phased manner, beginning from 12^th of October, 2015 and the customers will be directly contacted by the company.

Honda Motor had announced that the company is going to recall more than two million vehicles to replace the defective airbags that were manufactured by Japanese auto parts supplier Takata Corp.

Various car makers in India have been recalling the vehicles to fix the safety issues ever since the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) passed the voluntary recall policy in July 2012 to improve the safety of the Indian cars.

A total of 10,85,064 vehicle units have been recalled in the domestic India car market so far by several car manufacturing companies operating in the country, ever since SIAM initiated the recall policy in a bid to improve the safety of the Indian car buyers.

Japanese car major Honda Motor has charmed the Indian premium sedan buyers with the launch of the new generation Honda City, which not only brought back the car’s former glory in India, but also fetched its maker awesome sales numbers. The new generation Honda City launched in the Indian car market in January, 2014 and ever since has been the country’s topmost C segment car model. The previous Honda City also used to be the top seller in its class, but lost its position to the gorgeous Hyundai Verna which then ruled the segment for quite long. However, the new Honda City avenged itself and got its lost crown back, thanks to its great new design and of course its first time diesel counterpart. The competition has been becoming much more intense in this growing premium mid-sized sedan segment in India, but Honda City has been the invincible leader till now.

2014 New Honda City Rear White

And now, India’s most popular mid-sized sedan, the Honda City has achieved the superb sales milestone of 1.5 lakh units in the country.  Only earlier this year, the Honda City achieved the remarkable sales milestone of 1 lakh units, and within just few more months, the premium sedan has acquired the sales volume of another 50,000 units to further please its maker. This awesome sales rate has made the Honda City the fastest selling C-segment mid-sized sedan in the country.

The Honda City has a very rich heritage and holds a special kind of appeal and even reverence in the minds of the Indian car buyers throughout its existence in the country’s automotive industry. The City was first introduced to India back in the year 1998, which makes the car the longest surviving sedan in the country which never lost its charm and to hold its scepter over the market.

The ongoing model is the fourth generation model of the Honda City, and is the popular product from the house of Honda Cars India. The new generation Honda City was an instant hit and became the top car in its segment in its launch month itself. Other car makers have tried to dethrone the new City, but in vain. The City remains at the top despite stiff competition from many able cars like the refreshed Hyundai Verna, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and Volkswagen Vento.

Honda’s trump card to regain the lost glory of the City and to make it a greater success was the new diesel engine option. The capable 1.5 liter diesel motor offering the mileage of 26 kmpl made the Honda City the most fuel efficient car in India when it launched last year. This certainly made the City a stellar seller immediately.

The new-gen Honda City gets powered either by the 1.5 liter i-VTEC petrol motor generating 118.9PS of power and 145Nm of torque or the 1.5 liter i-DTEC diesel mill delivering 100PS and 200Nm. The Honda City is offered in the price range of Rs. 7.6 lakh to Rs. 11.9 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

The Japanese domestic market Honda Grace is the Indian equivalent of the Honda City and comes in three variants, the DX, LX and the EX. It is available in both, two wheel drive and four wheel drive variants in Japan. The Grace LX differs from the Honda City in minor details including the grille and added LED tail lamps apart from a boot lid spoiler. The car also has better safety features to conform to Japanese safety guidelines and to make it a safer car for new learners.

The sixth generation Honda City has a non-hybrid variant in Japan targeting the driving schools. The model is called the Honda Grace LX and boasts convenience features fit for new drivers. The features include but are not limited to telescopic steering, adjustable driver seat height, an auxiliary outside rear view mirror and a supplementary rear view mirror. The car released in the Japanese market on 19^th June. The sale of the Grace LX is exclusive to Japan and the price is 1790000 yens.

The power windows have the control on the passenger side for the convenience of the driving instructor. The incorporation of pedals on the passenger side makes the car perfect for a driving training car but at the same time, makes it awkward for any other purpose. The infotainment display has been replaced with a basic turn indicator and a horn button.

The gasoline powered engine of the Honda Grace LX is a decent 1.5L direct injection unit with the capability of producing 97.1kW power with the help of a 5 speed manual transmission gearbox or an alternate continuous varying transmission. The EX variant will come with the AWD drivetrain coupled with a 7 speed dual clutch gearbox. The 34.4kmpl fuel efficiency is perfect for a training car.

The exterior design of the Grace LX are at par with the design of current high-end sedans. The interiors are good enough to seat 5 adults comfortably. The new lineup includes a Premium Metallic Red color option that is highly in demand. The lustrous new color is quite a statement making the new Grace series stand apart from the older generations of the Honda City.

Additional features on the different variants of the Honda Grace include completely automated air conditioning system comprising rear side air conditioning ventilators, automatic retractable mirrors and Honda Smart Key technology. The Plasmacluster technology in the air conditioning offers better ventilation and longer durability of the air conditioning system. The automatic retractable mirrors draw in and draw out while locking and unlocking the car door.

The top trim variant of the Grace series incorporates seats specially designed for passengers with special needs. The anterior passenger seat can turn to let the passenger get in and get out of the car with ease. This detail has not affected the car’s original design in any way.

Honda is clearly trying to capture the market on various levels with the low-end and the high-end Grace series. The Grace LX is targeting driving institutions and new drivers while the Grace EX is targeting the groups that look for innovative comfort designs.

Honda Malaysia is all set to recall almost 90000 cars thanks to the faulty airbags that were installed their cars. These airbags are all set to be replaced and returned to their owners as soon as possible.

2014 New Honda City Rear White

Honda has been the worst affected by this alarming safety crisis involving its airbags. Honda will not only recall cars in Malaysia, but it also will be recalling cars globally to check on the airbag systems.  Honda Motor Company has already recalled approximately 19.6 million vehicles and it is not going to stop there, it will be recalling almost 4.89 million more to make sure that no further deaths or serious injuries can take place on their watch.

Honda isn’t the only company that has been affected by this epidemic of faulty cars. Toyota Motor Corporation has also announced a recall of about 5 million cars and Nissan Motor Company will be doing the same for 1.56 million of their cars.

Honda has been the worst affected by this problem with cars like the Honda city. Honda Civic, Honda CR-V, Honda Jazz and the Honda Stream have been affected.  Cars were manufactured around the years 2002-2008 have been affected as problems were found.

Honda Motor Company has put out a statement apologizing for the problem and the inconvenience caused by this recall and has assured the customers that current models have been tested and show no signs of the same problems that they have been affected by in the last few months. The company has made an effort to inform all their customers directly that may have the problem.

This safety crisis has been plaguing the automotive industry for the last few months as Japan’s three biggest car manufacturers will have to recall an additional 6.5 million vehicles because of the same problem. This is a financial blow for the companies as they will lose millions of dollars and not to mention they will lose the faith that the customers have placed in them.

Toyota will recall about 5 million cars which were manufactured in and around 2003-2007 thanks to the abnormal deployment of the airbags in the advent of a crash. Nissan will also begin to recall approximately 1.56 million cars and will start informing their customers in June.

The Takata Corporation has provided all these companies with faulty airbags and an investigation has been launched by the regulatory and safety boards in Japan and US. These air-bag inflators deploy with too much force and have the tendency to shoot out little pieces of plastic and metal that have broken up onto the car occupants. These air-bag inflators have been manufactured at the companies Monclova plant in Mexico.

This problem was discovered in November 2014, when a car that had been in an accident was inspected and air leaks were found that could allow moisture to seep into the device and ruin the propellant in the device.

Thanks to the investigations by the US senate, they have found a total of 6 fatalities and 105 injuries that were caused by such as catastrophic failure of the airbags.