Honda slashes $5300 from Civic hatch

HONDA Australia has slashed up to $5300 from key models in its range in a bid to boost sales, with the Jazz, City, Civic and Accord Euro all targeted.

After cutting $2000 from its Civic sedan range and $500 across the City light-car series in August, Honda has trimmed a further $300 from automatic versions of the VTi and VTi-L City – now starting from $20,990 and $23,490 respectively, plus statutory and dealer delivery charges – and responded further to increasing competition in the light-car segment with cuts of up to $1600 across most of the Jazz hatchback range.

From top: Honda Jazz, Honda City, Honda Accord Euro.

While the same $300 cut has been applied to automatic variants of the Jazz GLi (now from $18,990), GLi LE ($19,490) and GLi SP ($19,990), Honda has also slashed $1300 from manual versions of the Jazz VTi (now $19,190), VTi LE ($19,690) and VTi S ($21,690).

The $1600 price cut applies to automatic versions of the Jazz VTi, which now starts from $21,190 and rises to $21,690 for the LE and $23,690 for the S.

The big $5300 price cut is reserved for the UK-sourced Civic hatchback and comes as the company announces that from January it will introduce a new entry-level version of the Civic Si hatch, upholstered in cloth rather than leather trim and priced from $29,990 for the manual and $32,290 for the automatic.

Made possible by the strength of the Australian dollar against the Euro, the repositioning sees leather trim with heated front seats now consigned to an option pack, although ticking the box for Si with leather takes the retail price to a lower $32,190 for the manual, or $34,490 for the automatic. These are both $5300 down on previous prices.

The Accord Euro, meanwhile, benefits from a clean $2000 shaved across the range, with prices now starting from $31,490 for the entry-level manual, rising to $38,990 for the Luxury grade. Automatic transmission adds $2300, while Luxury trim with satellite-navigation is available in auto-only guise from $44,290.

Honda Australia senior director Lindsay Smalley said Honda cars had “never been more affordable” and that the price repositioning reflected the ultra-competitive nature of Australia’s new-vehicle market.

“The market has never been more competitive and we need to ensure we maintain and grow our market share,” he said. “The winners, of course, are our customers.”

VFACTS figures released last week show that Honda sales are down 0.5 per cent to the end of October, against a 13 per cent gain for the industry overall.

Accord Euro is down 10.6 per cent this year, City is down 16.9 per cent (even with the August price cuts) and Jazz, despite a stronger month in October, is down 1.3 per cent YTD.

Civic sales, the large majority of which are from the Thai-built sedan model range, have risen 6.9 per cent YTD.

Honda pricingchanges:
Jazz GLi	$16,990 (no change)
Jazz GLi (a)	$18,990 (-$300)
Jazz GLi LE	$17,490 (no change)
Jazz GLi LE (a)	$19,490 (-$300)
Jazz GLi SP	$17,990 (no change)
Jazz GLi SP (a)	$19,990 (-$300)
Jazz VTi	$19,190 (-$1300)
Jazz VTi (a)	$21,190 (-$1600)
Jazz VTi LE	$19,690 (-$1300)
Jazz VTi LE (a)	$21,690 (-$1600)
Jazz VTi S	$21,690 (-$1300)
Jazz VTi S (a)	$23,690 (-$1600)
City VTi	$18,990 (no change)
City VTi (a)	$20,990 (-$300)
City VTi-L	$21,490 (no change)
City VTi-L (a)	$23,490 (-$300)
Civic Si	$29,990 (no change)
Civic Si (a)	$32,990 (no change)
Civic Si (leather)	$32,190 (-$5300)
Civic Si (leather) (a)	$34,490 (-$5300)
Accord Euro	$31,490 (-$2000)
Accord Euro (a)	$33,790 (-$2000)
Accord Euro Lux	$38,990 (-$2000)
Accord Euro Lux (a)	$41,290 (-$2000)
Accord Euro Lux Nav (a)	$44,290 (-$2000)