Spied – Honda Concept C testing in China; mini Accord in the making?

The Honda Concept C was shown by the Japanese car maker at the 2012 Beijing Auto Expo. Less than a year later, here are the first ever pictures of the production version undergoing testing, somewhere in China.

This executive sedan is scheduled to be unveiled at the 2013 Shanghai Motor Show, set to commence on April 20 for the press. That is the good news.

The bad news is that, for now, the Concept C would be made exclusively for the Chinese market. In China, the Concept C will be positioned below the Honda Accord as well.

Honda will consider making the Concept C locally through its Guangzhou-Honda joint venture. While it is a China specific model, Carnewschina.com reports that Honda is considering exporting the Concept C to other Asian markets as well, plans of which are not finalized yet.

Options of a 1.8-liter or 2.0-liter petrol engine mated to a 5-speed manual/automatic gearbox would power the sedan.

You may remember one of our articles a while back, about the new China specific Hyundai sedan that would slot between the Elantra and the Sonata. So it looks like the Honda will find a perfect competitor in the upcoming Hyundai.

Prices for the Concept C could start at 130,000 CNY (INR 11.4 lakhs) and go up to 170,000 CNY (INR 14.9 lakhs).

In India, the Honda Civic which is struggling with double digit sales would be offered only till the stocks last. The Accord is not doing all that well either. The lack of a diesel engine has proved to be a disaster for Honda in all the segments, low and high.

Do you think Honda should introduce the Concept C in India only once they have their diesel engine in place, or do you think they can still pull it off with the petrol only model (like the new CR-V)?

Source;

http://indianautosblog.com/2013/03/spied-honda-concept-c-testing-in-china-65486