New Honda City 2008 since launched (Pics & Details)

• The CD player is there on the top two variants.
• Power is simply amazing; 118 PS from a 1.5 ltr engine!
• looks great from inside and outside is not bad at all
• Pricing is very very competitive.

@ ashwin, u r right & even i felt that there must be some necessary features like alloy wheels & climate comtrol on it, but sad honda's have not provided it now.

but i think after sometime like 6 months or one year honda will introduce a new variant for it like V or somthing same as it done with the civic & in that it will provide these all features which we expected to be there in it.

Japanese premium carmaker, Honda Sielcars India (HSCI) has preponed the launch of its compact car Jazz by six months to increase its market share in the Indian market.

                   Jazz, the smallest car from Honda’s bandwagon, will hit the Indian market in June-July next year and sport a specially designed 1.2 litre petrol engine for the Indian market. The car will roll out from its Greater Noida factory while the critical components and sheet metal body panels will be manufactured at its Rs 600 crore new factory at Tapukara in Rajasthan, which was inaugurated on Friday.

                     This new facility will also emerge as Honda’s main manufacturing base and produce its future cars, including the second small car slated to hit India in the next four years. HSCI president and CEO M Takedagawa said: “To have a significant presence in the Indian small-car market, we would launch two small cars within the next four years. First the Jazz which will be followed by another small car, currently under planning stage. We are looking at garnering a major market share in premium compact cars and the new factory will provide the much-needed technological support to our long-term plans.”

                   The company has also set up an R&D centre at the Rajasthan plant, which will provide critical support for the development of new cars and components keeping in view the Indian market. With the second plant coming into stream, operations of HSCI—a joint venture between Honda Motor Company and Shriram Group of Companies—will integrate into Honda’s pan-Asian supply chain network.

                       Honda Motor Co president and CEO Takeo Fukui said: “This plant will be used to export certain Indian-made components to our Asian subsidiaries. We will effectively utilise the Indo-ASEAN FTA starting next year to increase the supply of components among our various subsidiaries. We will be exporting powertrain parts from India to our Asian plants.”

               The company has also started a three-year certificate programme for under-graduates in automobile technology at the Rajasthan plant.

        Honda Siel Cars India launched the first City in India a little over a decade ago in 1997. This Asian country specific model had a design reminiscent of the Civic and became an overnight blockbuster, thanks to it being an amazing driver's car that also offered startling fuel efficiency earlier seen in smaller cars.

Honda pulled the plug on the City at the peak of its career, and introduced the all new City, which was a completely new body style that almost looked like a spaceship. Its love it/hate it looks were accepted by the Indian audience and this car too rose to the echelons of stardom to rule the upper C segment roost.

Competition has not kept pace with Honda's success story. At first there was LANCER, a formidable contender to the top spot, but it seems that HM-Mitsubishi lost their line of thought somewhere along the way, despite a diesel option. The Ford Fiesta was another strong contender in this segment, but its 'onesize-too-small' specs kept it from the top spot as well.

The one car that came in to upset the balance, and did for sometime has been the Maruti Suzuki SX4. This robust sedan that had lower D segment like space and brutality was available for a price that was substantially cheaper than a GXi. Refinement, fit and finish and the holy grail of mileage eventually plagued the SX4 and the Honda elements of exquisite refinement coupled with the element of quality still command a lot of respect, and this has been the area that has literally powered Honda's dreams  in India.

Despite the resounding success of the City ZX, as the second generation version was known, Honda hasn't been keen to rest on its laurels. With the competition fighting over second place Honda has again gone and done what it does best, pull out a bestseller from the market and replace it with something that is sure to keep the competition on its toes. Almost Samurai like; perpetually working and training to improve despite being number one.

The all-new Third Generation Honda City is a completely new car from scratch. The only commonality between the new car and its predecessor is the nomenclature. The Third generation Honda City is now poised to move from an Asian car model to a more global market. Honda intends on targeting several new markets with the new City and that would also lead to the fact as to why the new car is wider, longer, more powerful and more equipped in terms of active and passive safety features when compared to its predecessor.