Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) has said that it may re-launch the Civic Hybrid as it believes that the union government would slash the import duty on hybrid and other environment-friendly vehicles. Honda had stopped selling the Hybrid Civic, which was brought through the CBU format. The company had stopped importing chiefly due to the prohibitive import duty at 104%, which makes it commercially unviable for the consumers. Excise duty and VAT further increased the on-road price of the car.

Due to its exorbitant pricing, Honda was compelled to slash Civic Hybrid’s from Rs. 21 lakh to Rs. 13 lakh within two months of the launch to clear the inventory. 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.

Barely weeks after getting the biggest discount in the history of India’s car industry, the Honda Civic Hybrid will now do a disappearing act from local showrooms. Honda Siel Cars India will no longer retail the Civic Hybrid through its dealerships, less than a year after its India launch. The car will now be available only as a direct import through the company with a longer waiting period.

The Civic Hybrid, which runs on both petrol and battery and gives a mileage of up to 21 km per litre, did not enjoy a great run in India till the Rs 8-lac discount in November created a demand rush. But now, if a customer wants to buy the car he will have to approach the dealers or the company to import it. “After the customer places an order, the company will take 3-4 months to bring it to India,” said a Honda Siel official.

The first hybrid model to hit Indian roads, the Civic Hybrid, was readily available after its launch in June 2008 through Honda Siel dealerships. But at Rs 21.5 lakh, including a 104% import duty, it was too expensive to be a hit with customers. Honda Siel maintains that the lack of government support for imported hybrid cars also played spoilsport and the Civic Hybrid clocked sales of just 65 units in the first five months of its launch as against almost 300 units imported by the company in June 2008.

Honda has sold off all allocated Honda Civic Hybrids which they had planned to sell with a special price and have thus closed the special pricing. The Hybrid Civic will now be available for Rs. 25 lacs due to the high import duties.

“The huge interest in the Civic Hybrid shows that Indian customer is ready to adopt such new environment friendly technologies. The introduction of the special price was our effort to promote this technology. We are very hopeful that with Government’s support for these environment friendly vehicles, a lot more customers would be able to experience this technology in future.” said Mr Jnaneswar Sen, Vice President, Honda Siel Cars India.

Honda received an overwhelming response to the car at the special price with more than 1100 inquiries in just 4 days and all cars planned for this programme have been allocated against confirmed bookings. The deliveries of the cars are in the process.

Honda has sold 98 Civic Hybrid cars on a single day on Thursday, much more than what it managed in the entire five months since the premium hybrid’s launch in India, thanks to a reduced pricing by a whopping Rs 8 lakh, or 40%. Honda maintains this price to be a limited-period offer.

With Thursday’s orders, Honda has sold out the first batch of Civic Hybrids it had imported from Japan. The second batch is already on its way. “A big consignment of these cars will be reaching India in the next few days. We will also take more orders as per the demand from our dealers,” the Honda spokesperson said.

“Customers are extremely attracted by the high-fuel efficiency of the hybrid,” said a Delhi-based Honda dealer, who clocked a dozen bookings for the car on Thursday. With electric motor support, Civic Hybrid delivers an average of 20 km per litre of petrol. Also, the hybrid system comes with a lifetime warranty.

Civic Hybrid, at its new price of Rs. 13.36 lakh, is just Rs. 50,000 costlier then top V variant at Rs. 12.86 lakh. The price parity has led to increase in demand for the hugely fuel-efficient hybrid in metros like Mumbai and Delhi, and fuel-sensitive areas like Punjab and Hyderabad.

Honda is offering the Civic Hybrid at a special price. The offer is for a limited peroid according to the Honda website. The Civic Hybrid was launched at a price of Rs. 21.5 lacs ex-showroom and with the special pricing is available for 16.5 lacs OTR Mumbai.

“We have taken a hit on the price to offer this eco-friendly technology to potential customers. There have been thousands of enquiries for the Hybrid, which had not culminated in actual sales,” said Honda Siel vice president Jnaneshwar Sen.

On further enquiry about the reduced pricing, a spokesperson from Honda said that Honda wants to push the sales of the hybrid as it is a green car. The Hybrid pricing is Rs. 50,000 more then the automatic Civic. It was also mentioned the price will remain so till Honda sell the current stock of the Civic hybrid which makes us believe that Honda wants to get rid of 2008 Civic hybrids in their inventory. We only wonder about owners of the Civic Hybrid who payed 25 lacs for going green.

“This is yet another step to strengthen Honda’s presence in India in line with our long term goal of bringing eco friendly vehicles,” Honda CL’s car India President and CEO Masahiro Takedawa said.

Test drive review coming soon, stay tuned.