Honda to Relaunch Civic Hybrid Version in India

Immediately after 6 months of launch in June 2008 Honda Siel Cars India (HSCIL) stopped selling its hybrid car 'Civic Hybrid' from last November is likely to bring back its hybrid version to India after the Central budget as it is believed that Union government would bring down the import duty on motor vehicles by the company.

Tatsuya Natsume, director-marketing of HSCIL, the Indian subsidiary of Japanese car giant Honda Motor said that, "We are watching the Budget. If the import duty is reduced, we may consider to restart selling Civic Hybrids in India".

Honda Civic Hybrid was discontinued to sell in India by Honda due to high import duty. He said that, "By the time the Civic Hybrid lands in India, the price is doubled due to import duty that stood at 104%." He added that the excise duty and VAT further increased the on-road price of the car. Honda Civic Hybrid was the first ever hybrid technology car launched in India. Honda sold around 300 cars in India during its brief presence in India between June-November 2008 after importing them from Japan as completely built units (CBUs).

The company has taken a hit due to its hybrid launch, as it had cut down the price from Rs 21 lakh to Rs 13 lakh within two months of the launch to clear the inventory, said a HSCIL official requesting anonymity. The official said that the company sold only 60 cars at the original price tag of Rs 21.5 lakh while the remaining 240 vehicles were sold at the discounted price of Rs 13.36 lakh.