Honda maintains old prices for ‘refreshed’ City
Honda Cars Philippines (HCPI) launched its refreshed City, its best-selling compact car model, but maintained prices of the previous model.
The launch of the refreshed City model was also an opportunity for HCPI to introduce its new president and general manager Noriyuki Takakura.
The new Honda City, which comes in six new colors, has retained its predecessor’s suggested retail prices of 1.5 E MT – R764,000; 1.5 E CVT – R804,000; 1.5 VX Navi CVT – R913,000; and 1.5 VX+ Navi CVT – R1.003 million.
Masanao Kataoka, HCPI senior assistant vice president and adviser, said they decided to maintain the prices to benefit more Filipinos.
The 4th generation City sold a total of 26,000 units since 2014 up to present or annual sales of 8,000 units.
Louie C. Soriano, HCPI division head for administration, said the company hopes to exceed the previous sales performance and hit 10,000 units annually for this model.
City, the only locally assembled model of HCPI, accounts for 30-40 percent of its total sales. HCPI carries 11 motor vehicle models in the country. As the country’s largest car company, HCPI hopes to sell 32,000 units this year from 24,000 units last year. Aside from City, VRV accounts for almost 30 percent of total sales.
Soriano said they are still uncertain how many models they are going to bring in this year, but said they average 3 models a year in the past two years.
Its assembly plant in Sta. Rosa, Laguna has production capacity of 15,000 units and is already fully utilized.
Soriano said that the ongoing deliberations on higher excise tax on motor vehicles have not affected HCPI sales operations.
“It is business as usual,” he said. There had been projections before that sales could pick up this year because consumers will frontload purchases to avoid the higher taxes next year.
The New City exhibits a high-tech and sporty design, class-leading fuel efficiency and comfort, and above class safety that provide customers with the smartest ownership experience.