More details on 2009 Honda City - Due this month?

Updated (17-8-08) : Image added
According to Yuatyan automotive newspaper, we could be seeing the new 2009 Honda City as early as the end of August. Honda is hoping that it will boost up their sales in the last quarter of 2008.

The City currently competes very well head-to-head with Toyota Vios, despite the Vios being a next generation model, so Honda can be pretty confidence that it will compete well because of the new (and more) sporty look.

The sub-compact market section makes up 43% of the sedan market or 47,795 units in the first half of 2008. Considering the size of the market, it is surprising that there are still only three main competitors; Honda City, Toyota Vios and Chevrolet Aveo.

The Thai motor industry is made interesting by these compact cars in the market, and of course, Honda is the main contributor to this. Honda sent its Jazz in the beginning of the year and now it's sending the latest 3rd generation City into the market. At this moment Honda is training their employees and dealers about the new City.

This 3rd generation City is different from the previous model in that it doesn't use the same body design as the Jazz. Although it's harder to tell from the recent face-lifted model, the initial City shared very similar exterior proportions to the Jazz. This time the City will only share the same chassis and basic structure, along with engine technology. The engine is the same 1.5 ltr i-VTEC with electronic drive-by-wire. Honda is confident that the City will do really well, not only because the engine is good, but also thanks to the safety features on offer.

If Yuatyun are correct, we don't have long to wait before we can see exactly what Honda has produced.

The image above was found on pantip.com.

Is this the first real image of the 2009 Honda City? I hope so.

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