One of the three major automotive manufacturers in Pakistan, Honda Atlas has been around for nearly 3 decades now and is considered as a significant player in automotive industry. Honda Atlas is has sold a reasonable number of reliable and likable vehicles in Pakistan, and have established their place in the psyches of the Pakistani purchasers as one of the most alluring automakers.
During the current year, among the mid-level market Honda has observed its edge somewhat scaled down, as its sales are dropped enormously by 63% as reported by PakWheels. It was also reported that the sales are dropped due to the current COVID-19 crisis, rupee devaluation, high taxes and new rivals. Honda’s generosity is by all accounts in extreme peril, with the expanding rivalry because of the appearance of new rivals like Hyundai, Kia and a couple of others. But the biggest reason behind this sales-plunge is old models, especially in case of City.
Honda Atlas introduced last generation of City back in 2010, which was its fifth generation. They haven’t upgraded City’s generation since then. Even our neighbors, India has seventh generation of City, which was launched last month.
According to PakWheels, Honda Atlas has confirmed that new generations of City and Civic will launch next year in Pakistan and they are hoping that these new cars will bring their sales back on tracks, which are going down massively. Civic will be upgraded to eleventh generation while City will be upgraded to sixth generation, which was long due for the local market.
Honda City
Honda City needed an upgrade in its generations for a very long time as the current fifth generation was made obsolete all over the world in 2014 which had chassis mode GM2/GM3.
In regional and international market, the 5th generation was replaced by 6th in 2014 which has chassis code GM4/GM5/GM6/GM9. The various chassis code is for the fact that the same generation model is known with different names in different markets or with some different technicalities under the skin. Honda City in our region/ ASEAN is known as GM6 and it came in 2014 and remained till 2019.
Honda Atlas had imported a sixth generation City according to the reports from Thailand, in a Complete Built-up Unit (CBU) form. The City featured an L15Z engine which is a 1.5 liter 4-cylinder petrol engine which is also featured in modern City in Pakistani automobile market. The main aim for the import of City was to perform test runs on the Pakistani Roads.
However, Honda Atlas is launching a new generation (sixth) of City in Pakistan which was replaced with seventh generation all over the international market last year.
Honda Civic
Alongside rest of the world, Pakistan has the latest tenth generation of Civic, which was launched late in 2016. For ages now Honda continues its one generation for five years, therefore this generation is ought to be end in 2021.
As per reports from Pakistani automobile platform PakWheels, Honda Atlas is planning to introduce next generation of Civic next year to regain their dominance in Pakistani market.
The tenth generation was a complete change from the previous ones. Its type-R was recently released. It was liked due to its sporty look with different notable features. Its interior and exterior were completely different from previous models. It came with a 1.8L i-v-tec engine, which churns out 140 horsepower and 1.5L DOHC turbocharged producing 173 horsepower with a CVT transmission.
Conclusion
Any information regarding the specs, features or price of the new City and Civic is not out yet, but it’s expected that City will cost nearly PKR 2,500,000/-, whereas all the other information will be revealed in ending months of 2020.
In the end it is necessary to mention that this update both a happy and a sad news for purchasers of Honda because in light of the fact that on one hand Pakistan is getting new generations, while on the other hand, in case of City, it will be an internationally obsolete generation. It is also pertinent to mention that City has been the main bread and butter of Honda in Pakistan; still the company has not upgraded it as per global trend. Meanwhile, next generation of Civic next year will be a great addition in local market. We have to wait and see, whether, Honda will give these new cars to Pakistan or not.
