Honda Unveils City Hatchback

Honda has pulled the wraps off its City hatch, which is all set to sell in Thailand, is first market. The Honda City hatchback has been revived from the history books, and with a beautiful story behind it, we delve deeper on the new model.

City vs City

The new City hatchback shares the same platform as the new City sedan, with most of the body panels being absolutely identical, way up until the C-pillar, after which you will see a rather stylish looking rear hatch. At the back, you’ll notice wide, horizontal but sleek tail lamps, a stubby overhang and a lovely curved look, giving it a very proportionate stance. The rear bumper too, looks attractive along with modern-looking faux air vents. There’s a even a nice, black rear faux diffuser to go with it.

What you see, right in front of you, is the City hatchback in its top-spec version, the RS Turbo – meaning it features lots of sporty bits and bobs like a smoked-out grille and a darkened chrome look for the 16-inch alloy wheels. In the cabin, however, a lot hasn’t changed. But you do get the lovely rear seats that split 60:40, can be folded down, giving room for luggage in the boot, while it can also be folded upwards to improve vertical space, making it extremely practical.

The dimensions

The City hatchback measures 4349mm in length, 1748mm in width, 1488mm in height, while the wheelbase is rather impressive 2589mm. The City hatch is no small, it’s pretty huge, and its stance is bound to lure buyers. It is larger than the current-generation Honda Jazz that’s on sale in India.

Talking power

The new City hatchback employs a 1.0-litre, turbo-petrol engine that produces 120bhp, and comes paired to a CVT unit. We hope Honda cars offers a raft of engines for various markets, along with different gearboxes too.

Coming to India?

Maybe. Or maybe not, since the new City hatchback has been designed keeping in mind markets like Malaysia, Thailand, South America and Indonesia. This car will replace the Jazz in those markets. In Japan and Europe, the fourth-generation Jazz is already selling, but is unlikely to make it to India because of its platform being costly to manufacture. As for India, the third-generation Jazz will continue to cater to our market, while hopes of the City hatchback arriving on our shores, can only leave us hopeful. Also, read the latest car comparisons, only at autoX.