BH CORRESPONDENT, Kolkata: It seems that Honda is preparing a hatchback sibling to co-exist with the fifth-generation City saloon model. Proof of this has come from a series of patent images that have surfaced on-line. The idea of a shortened City saloon isn’t entirely new as Dongfeng Honda in China makes a liftback version of the fourth-gen model called the Gienia.
The patent drawings suggest that the new City hatchback will get a lot of styling influences from the saloon version. The front end looks identical as it shares the same headlamp cluster, grille, bonnet and bumper design. The styling similarities continue down the car’s sheetmetal with nearly identical window and character lines up to the C-pillar. Notable changes are as expected with a key feature being the taillamp clusters and shortened rear.
As with typical hatchback configuration, there will be tailgate instead of a boot. The roofline slopes down to the rear and hosts a top-mounted spoiler. The rear fixed window sports a sharp rake.
The City saloon is 4,553 mm long, 1,748 mm wide, 1,467 mm tall and has a wheelbase of 2,589 mm. While we don’t have specifications for the hatchback yet, but as with standard practice it is expected to be shorter than the saloon while retaining the same wheelbase.
As for powertrain, the saloon’s uses 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol that offers 122 PS and 173 Nm. The front wheel drive car gets continuously variable transmission (CVT) with seven virtual speeds. This set-up is expected to be carried forward into the hatchback.
For India, Honda hasn’t revealed any plans for its introduction as of now.
