Honda Siel Cars India will no longer retail the Civic Hybrid through its dealerships, less than a year after its India launch. The car will now be available only as a direct import through the company from Japan with a longer waiting period of around 3 months.
The price of Civic Hybrid when launched a year before was around 21 lakhs. The Civic Hybrid runs on Petrol and battery and gives a combined mileage of around 21 km to a litre. When launched the Civic Hybrid did not create much the demand expected, also there was no support from the government as it offers incentives only for Hybris cars made in India.
Honda then offered a discount of around 8 lakhs in the month of November which created a demand rush and all the cars were sold out within few days.
The car which comes with a import duty of around 104% could not lure customers due to its fat price tag. But now, if a customer wants to buy the car he will have to approach the dealers or the company to import it. “After the customer places an order, the company will take 3-4 months to bring it to India,” said a Honda Siel official.
Honda Siel India sells the new Honda City, Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Honda CRV currently in India.