Honda City completes 20 years in India

Honda City created quite a revolution when it was launched in India in 1998. It won't be exaggerating to claim that the Honda City was the only premium sedan in its segment. The Japanese car manufacturer is celebrating 20 years of the City sedan in India. Honda states that India is the largest and the most important market for the City as the country accounts to over 25 percent of its worldwide sales.

The Honda City was primarily developed as an Asian model that later on entered 60 countries and registered a cumulative sales of 3.6mn units globally. Honda Cars started with 12 dealers that were present in 11 cities in 1998. These numbers have now risen to 349 outlets that have been spread across 234 cities. Even the supplier network has gone up from 57 in 1998 to 221 in 2017. Here is a timeline of the Honda City's journey in the country.

1998

Honda City launched in India, becomes the first Honda model to be sold in India. Was available with two engine options, 1.3L and 1.5L petrol engines

2000

Honda City gets the popular VTEC engine

2003

Honda City Zx from the 2008 batch

Second generation of Honda City launched in India. Came with a 1.5L i-DSI petrol engine and was also offered with a CVT unit, that was the first on an Indian car

2005

Honda City ZX launched with tweaked design and an updated 1.5L VTEC engine.

2007

Honda launches 10th anniversary edition of the City with ABS

2008

Third generation Honda City launched in India with a 1.5L i-VTEC engine. The sedan came equipped with ABS and airbags as standard

2009

Honda City wins the ICOTY 2009

2012

Honda City gets an updated interior with touchscreen infotainment system and also gets a CNG variant.

2013

World premiere of the fourth generation Honda City in India

2014

This year was important as Honda City finally received a 1.5L i-Dtec engine along with the 1.5L i-Vtec engine. Honda also updated the CVT unit in the City to make it more efficient than the manual transmission variant.

2016

ISOFIX introduced in the Honda City sedan

2017

The Honda City boasts a lower, sporty stance

Honda launched the revised fourth generation City with all-LED lights. Achieves a cumulative sales of 7 lakh units in India.