New Honda City 2020 revealed: Is this light sedan coming to Australia?

Honda has taken to the Bangkok motor show to reveal the fifth-generation City light sedan, and while it is due to enter Thai showrooms on Christmas eve, its Australian prospects are currently unknown.

A Honda Australia spokesperson told CarsGuide “it is too soon to confirm any details for next-generation City”, noting that “the current generation will be with us for some time yet”.

As reported, Honda Australia is also yet to lock in its plans for the mechanically related fourth-generation Jazz light hatch that made its debut at last month’s Tokyo motor show, with a local update for the third-generation model understood to be set for next year.

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Given sedans continue to decline in popularity, the City’s chances are seemingly weaker than that of the Jazz, which has this year outsold its sibling in Australia at an eight-to-one ratio to the end of October.

The Thai-market City also appears to lack the Japanese brand’s full suite of advanced driver-assist systems, including autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane-keep assist, both of which are required for a five-star safety rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP). At minimum, AEB is standard range-wide overseas in the latest Jazz.

As far as styling is concerned, the redesigned City is more Civic and less Jazz.

That said, this particular version of the City is available with six airbags, a multi-angle reversing camera and hill-start assist as well as the usual electronics.

As far as styling is concerned, the redesigned City is more Civic and less Jazz, shaping up as a shrunken version of the venerable small sedan.

Projector headlights are teamed with LED daytime running lights at the familiar-looking front end, while LED tail-lights are found on the inoffensive rear end.

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Those after some extra visual spice can opt for the sporty RS grade, which joins the City grade after launching as part of the Civic hatch and HR-V small SUV ranges.

The RS swaps the regular variants’ chrome horizontal bar with a gloss-black item as well as more aggressive side air intakes with LED foglights, and mesh inserts for the grille and front bumper.

Split-spoke 16-inch alloy wheels, black side-mirror covers, a gloss-black rear boot spoiler and obligatory ‘RS’ badging cap off the more daring look.

Depending on the grade, black cloth or leather upholstery is standard.

Inside, the fresh City forgoes its Jazz counterpart’s digital instrument cluster and two-spoke steering wheel for physicals dials and a three-spoke tiller, although a multi-function display is sandwiched between the former.

An 8.0-inch touchscreen is powered by a multimedia system that supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is found in a cabin that Honda says is more spacious than before and “luxurious beyond its class”.

Depending on the grade, black cloth or leather upholstery is standard, although the RS once again ups the ante, this team with suede and leather trim with contrasting red stitching.

Significantly, the City is now motivated by a 1.0-litre turbo-petrol VTEC three-cylinder engine that produces 90kW of power at 5500rpm and 173Nm of torque from 2000-4500rpm, and could do service in the next Jazz alongside its promised dual-motor hybrid set-up.

The marque says the Euro5-compliant unit “provides driving performance superior to the 1.5 litre-engine in the previous generation and powerful torque equivalent to a 1.8-litre engine”.

It is mated to a continuously variable transmission (CVT), which contributes to City’s claimed fuel consumption of 4.2 litres per 100 kilometres on the combined-cycle test. Carbon dioxide emissions are 99 grams per kilometre.