HCIL has confirmed the tenth generation Honda Civic for India. However, Autocar India's report states that the model coming to India will be the facelift of the Civic and will arrive only in 2019. The sedan will be manufactured locally armed with petrol and diesel engine options.
Yoichiro Ueno, President and CEO of Honda Cars India Ltd. said
We have received a lot of requests for the Civic which is very successful in other countries. So we are studying this model for India and, so far, the result is very positive. So we are going to implement it here now.
However, HCIL needs time to get everything in place for the local production of the Honda Civic. Also, by the time Honda's manufacturing facility gets ready to roll out the Civic, the facelift will be ready to make its debut. Hence, the company is of the opinion that coinciding the Indian launch of the Civic with the global launch of its facelift will be a good move. As per a report from June, Honda will manufacture the Civic in Greater Noida, UP.
Honda seems to have learned its lesson from the previous Civic's stint in India. The lack of a diesel engine was one of the major factors for the drop in sales and its subsequent demise. So, unlike the eighth generation Civic that was sold in India until 2013, the new one will get a diesel engine. It will be a 1.6 L, that is already being exported to Thailand from Tapukara, Rajasthan, that will also power the new Honda CR-V arriving next year. Honda showcased the Civic diesel at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show in September. The Honda Civic 1.6 diesel is good for 120 PS at 4,000 rpm and 300 Nm of torque at 2,000 rpm.
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The petrol variant of the Honda Civic will get a 1.8 L i-VTEC engine producing 140 hp. Ueno ruled out the 1.5 L turbocharged petrol for the Indian market citing high costs as the primary reason. The company believes the Civic petrol will be the major sales driver. Only around 20% of the total Honda City units sold are diesel powered. Honda expects this figure to be even lower for the Civic.
[source - Autocar India]
