Forget about the City. Honda is about as likely to import the City subcompact sedan to the U.S. market as it is to introduce a production-ready Accord convertible at the L.A. Auto Show.
Still, the City -- now in its third generation with the car pictured here -- sells in 39 countries. Honda says it sold its one-millionth City at the end of May 2008.The new City goes on sale today in Thailand, one of seven countries in which the car is currently produced. You'll also find City factories in the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, China, and Turkey. Once the second plant in Thailand opens in late October, Honda will have a 240,000 City capacity.Emerging markets may be the primary target for the City, but like the U.S. specification Fit, the car is powered by a 1.5L i-VTEC engine. Customers choose between an automatic or manual five-speed transmission. In Thailand, the base price of the city is 524,000 baht, or about $15,150 U.S. dollars.
Compared to the Fit, the City is about 11 inches longer, two inches shorter, and the same 66.7-inch width.Honda wants to sell 90,000 Fits in the U.S. by the end of 2008. Would the addition of the City help Honda push its U.S. subcompact presence over 100,000 units? How well might the City fit into the inexpensive end of Honda's lineup?
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