2017 promises to be Battle Royale, between the redesigned Honda City and the next-gen Hyundai Verna. Yes, the Verna will move on to the next generation in 2017, and to counter this, Honda has pushed back the launch of the facelifted City sedan. The facelifted City is expected to take styling cues from the Honda Greiz, which is the China-spec version of the car. Here are some images.
As the images indicate, the Greiz features a new front fascia, a new front grille, revised headlamp design, LED daytime running lamps, LED tail lamps and a new boot lid with an integrated spoiler. The body shows additional sculpting, especially on the flanks.
New alloy wheels and projectors are expected to be added to the India-spec City facelift. Airbags and ABS could become standard across the range. All black-interiors will be high on many buyers’ wishlist for the facelifted City. Expect more features too.
Under the hood, the mechanicals are likely to be carried over unchanged. The petrol powered car is likely to continue with the 1.5 liter i-VTEC engine with 117 Bhp-145 Nm, with 5 speed manual and CVT automatic gearboxes making for transmission options.
The diesel motor is also a 1.5 liter-4 cylinder unit, but with 98.6 Bhp-200 Nm on tap. The diesel motor gets a 6 speed manual gearbox as standard fare. The facelifted City sedan is codenamed 2GC and work on it is said to have already begun.
Let’s now look at the facelifted City’s challenger, the all-new 2017 Hyundai Verna.
Soon after the City was launched in 2014, the Honda killed the Hyundai Verna Fluidic, which was the market leader until then. Ever since, the City sedan has been India’s best selling C-Segment sedan. Hyundai will challenge this next year, with the next-gen Verna.
The car has been showcased at the Beijing Motor Show, in concept form, and will be launched in South Korea later this year. The styling of the new Verna is an evolution of the Fluidic design philosophy, and the car looks like the i20 Elite’s elder brother.
The front and rear ends of the next-gen Verna get redesigns while the profile remains largely similar to the outgoing model, and this includes the coupe-like raked windowline. While the car’s mechanicals haven’t been revealed yet, expect them to be class leading. In true Hyundai style, the feature list is also expected to be comprehensive.
Via Team-BHP