India-bound Honda City RS Hybrid: Specifications revealed

Honda launched the all-new fifth-generation City earlier this year. The all-new City is powered by both petrol and diesel engine options and also gets an automatic transmission option with the petrol engine. Honda is now working to launch a hybrid version of the all-new City that will be powered by a petrol engine. Honda has announced the launch of the same in the Malaysian market and has announced the specs and features of the sedan too. This is the first time that the specifications of the all-new Honda City Hybrid have been revealed.

The Honda City hybrid will come powered by a 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated engine with an electric motor. The petrol engine produces a maximum power of 98 PS between 5,600 and 6,400 rpm while the electric motor produces a maximum of 108 PS between 0 and 3,000 rpm. The petrol-engine produces a maximum of 127 Nm of torque while the electric motor produces a maximum of 253 Nm of peak torque. The car comes with e-CVT transmission only. There is no manual transmission available with this hybrid variant.

Honda has not revealed the combined power and torque outputs of the hybrid system. However, as per official data, the hybrid version returns more than 26 km/l, which is much higher than the 18.5 km/l for the non-hybrid variant. The hybrid system also makes the City RS quicker than the only petrol-powered version of the car. It takes about 9.9 seconds from standstill to reach 100 km/h. The non-hybrid version does the same in 10.2 seconds. However, the top-speed is 173 km/h, which is lower than the 196 km/h speed of the regular non-hybrid version. This can be due to the increased weight of the vehicle due to the addition of the hybrid system

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The i-MMD hybrid system is similar to the Honda Jazz. It has two electric motors. One of these electric motors is integrated to the petrol engine and it works as an integrated starter-generator too. The second electric motor sends power to the wheels whenever required.

Honda is expected to launch the all-new City Hybrid by the middle of next year. Since the technology used in the car is so much more advanced than the Ciaz, expect a price tag, which is likely to cross the top-end version of the regular, non-hybrid City. So the price of the hybrid version can be expected to be around Rs 15 lakhs and in all probability, there will be a single variant of the car available in the Indian market.

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