MAM
Honda Cars India launches New City and New City e:HEV in India
Mumbai: Honda Cars India Ltd, a manufacturer of cars in India has launched the New City (Petrol) and New City e:HEV in the Indian market with sporty exterior styling, elegant interior enhancements and introduction of new features for advanced safety, connectivity and convenience. Both the models are BS-6 RDE compliant on E5 fuel and E20 material compatible.
Commenting on the launch of the New Honda City, Honda Cars India Ltd. president & CEO Takuya Tsumura said, “Honda City has been our strongest pillar of business, defining the mid-size sedan segment in India and has achieved immense success during its 25-year glorious legacy. With India as the lead market for the model, we are excited to introduce the New City with sportier new look and enhanced new features for advanced safety, connectivity and convenience. We are confident that our esteemed customers who are increasingly prioritising Safety and Eco-friendliness in their vehicle choice will appreciate the New City. The expansion of Honda Sensing application in New City Petrol line-up and new grade introduction for City e:HEV is aligned with Honda’s global vision to promote safety, environment friendly and fuel-efficient vehicles that meet the changing needs and preferences of today’s consumers.”
The new City gets sporty and stylish new looks with a New Sporty Front Grille with Diamond chequered flag pattern, newly designed Front Bumper with Carbon wrapped Lower Molding, Sporty Fog Lamp Garnish, New Rear Bumper with Sporty Carbon-Wrapped Diffuser, Body coloured Sporty Trunk Lip Spoiler and newly designed R16 Dual-Tone Diamond-Cut Multi-Spoke Alloy Wheels. A brand-new addition to the New City’s fascinating and distinctive colour palette is the Obsidian Blue Pearl colour.
In line with Honda’s Global Safety Vision to strive for Zero Collision Fatalities involving Honda vehicles by 2050, the New City (Petrol) now comes with Honda Sensing – an advanced driver assist safety technology that alerts the driver to minimize risk of accidents and in some cases intervene to mitigate a collision or lessen its severity. The City e:HEV which already comes with Honda Sensing, will have additional feature of “Low-Speed Follow” in Adaptive Cruise Control function that helps to maintain safe distance from the preceding vehicle while driving at low speeds/ stop and go traffic. Another new feature ‘Lead Car Departure Notification System’ has been added in Honda Sensing suite of safety features in both City (petrol) and City e:HEV that informs the driver with visual and audible alerts when the preceding vehicle starts moving in situations like Traffic Lights junctions.
The Honda Sensing uses a high-performance front camera with a wide-angle, far-reaching detection system to scan the road ahead and alert the driver to minimize risk of accidents and offer a safer driving experience. Honda Sensing signature safety features include:
o Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS)
o Adaptive Cruise Control with Low Speed Follow* (*New Introduction in City e:HEV)
o Road Departure Mitigation System
o Lane Keep Assist System (LKAS)
o Lead Car Departure Notification System (New)
o Auto High-Beam
The interior of the New City packs a plush, premium and spacious cabin with Two-Tone Beige & Black Interiors in Petrol variants and Luxurious Two-Tone Ivory & Black Interior Colour Theme in City e:HEV. Introduction of new advanced connectivity features like Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Improved Infotainment System with new background & colours, Remote control operation via Smart Phone Application, Improved Rear Camera, Wireless Charger, Rain Sensing Auto Wiper add to the appeal and convenience for the customers. Feeling of luxury in the cabin at night has been further enhanced with Ambient Lighting introduced in Front Door Inner Handle and Front Door pockets. The brightness can be adjusted through the meter illumination control switch or turned off upon users’ requirements. The City e:HEV gets a new Carbon Fibre pattern Instrument Panel Assistant side Garnish Finish, Piano Black Surround Finish on All AC Vents and Piano Black Garnish on Steering Wheel.
The company has expanded the City e:HEV range with a new ‘V’ grade in addition to the existing top grade ‘ZX’ to provide customers with more choice and experience of this advanced self-charging strong hybrid electric technology. The New City (Petrol) will also have a new entry ‘SV’ grade for wider set of customers looking to upgrade to the City brand.
The New City (Petrol) comes with a 1.5L i-VTEC DOHC engine with Variable Timing Control (VTC) to deliver high fuel efficiency, lower emissions, and spirited driving performance. This high-performance engine delivers 89 kw (121PS) @6600 rpm power and 145 Nm@4300 rpm torque, with quicker torque increase at lower engine speed. It has been mated to a 6-speed Manual Transmission and 7- speed CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) offering impressive fuel efficiency of 17.8 kmpl and 18.4 kmpl respectively*.
The New City e:HEV features Honda’s unique self-charging and highly efficient Two motor e-CVT hybrid system connected to a smooth 1.5-litre Atkinson-Cycle DOHC i-VTEC petrol engine, Intelligent Power Unit (IPU) with advanced Lithium-ion Battery and an Engine linked direct coupling Clutch. The e:HEV electric-hybrid system uses three driving modes – EV Drive, Hybrid Drive and Engine Drive, along with Regeneration mode during deceleration. A clever Power Control Unit ensures harmony between the various system components to provide an energetic response, seamlessly and automatically switching between three modes based on various driving situations.
The City e:HEV harnesses any electrical energy through braking and self-charges the Lithium Ion battery pack with no need to manually charge the battery. The Deceleration Selector lets the driver change the deceleration to three levels without stepping on the brake pedal while still maintaining good vehicle control and fuel efficiency. This strong hybrid electric system produces System Combined Max Power of 126 PS, Outstanding Fuel Efficiency of 27.13 km/l and Maximum motor torque of 253 Nm @ 0 – 3,000 rpm*. With the Electric Servo Brake, Electric Regenerative Braking in New City e:HEV combines with Hydraulic Braking to bring the vehicle to a quick stop, while self-charging the Lithium-Ion battery pack.
The New City features host of advanced equipment including 20.3 cm Advanced Touchscreen Display Audio which connects with Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Web Link smart connectivity, 8 speakers premium surround sound system, One- Touch Electric Sunroof, Ambient Lighting and LED Interior Lamps, Steering Mounted Paddle Shifters for CVT. A 17.7cm HD full color TFT meter with Multi-function driver information interface offers Honda Sensing support, various other alerts/ warnings, G-meter, Digital Speed, Cruise Control display and Power flow meters (in case of e:HEV). An easy to operate Electric Parking Brake (EPB) with Auto Brake Hold that engages parking brake with a single switch, has been adopted for the City e:HEV which eliminates the need for a brake lever and also lets the center console to be utilized more effectively for placing small items pocket tissue, smartphone or a small tablet in the Utility Tray.
The New City Petrol and New City e:HEV comes fully equipped with host of safety technologies, active and passive safety features like Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure, AVAS (Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System) at low speed EV Mode (in City e:HEV), six Airbags, Honda Lane-Watch, Multi-angle Rear view Camera, Tyre Pressure Monitoring System with Deflation Warning, Vehicle Stability Assist with Agile Handling Assist, Hill Start Assist, ISOFIX compatible Rear Side Seats with Lower Anchorage & Top Tether, Immobilizer with anti-theft alarm and many more.
The New City comes equipped with 37 Honda Connect features and comes with a five year free subscription. In order to enhance Connected car experience, Honda Connect works with smart watch devices, Alexa remote capability and OK Google. With smartwatch connectivity, the car can be remotely controlled for enhanced convenience and users can always stay up-to-date with important notifications.
The New City (Petrol) comes in four grades SV, V , VX and ZX with a choice in Manual or CVT transmission in V, VX and ZX. The New City e:HEV comes in V and ZX grade. The New City will be available with a choice of 6 colour options – Obsidian Blue Pearl (New), Radiant Red Metallic, Platinum White Pearl, Modern Steel Metallic, Lunar Silver Metallic, Golden Brown Metallic.
The New City and e:HEV will offer complete peace of mind with three year unlimited kilometers warranty as standard benefit to the customer. The customers can also opt for extended warranty upto 5 years and Anytime Warranty upto ten years from the date of car purchase. The warranty available on Lithium-ion Battery will be 8-year or 160,000 Km (whichever comes first) from the date of car purchase.
Ex showroom prices (New Delhi) of New City Petrol are:
Ex showroom prices (New Delhi) of New City e:HEV are:
*Power, Torque, Fuel Economy as per certified test data on E5 fuel
TV Commercial: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s2hVxtfJSKLFPCVGapFGGPbivEpUhItf/view?usp=share_link
Digital
GUEST COLUMN: How AI is restructuring distributor and retailer motivation models
From incentives to intelligence, AI is redefining how brands engage channel partners
MUMBAI: Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how brands engage with their most critical yet often overlooked stakeholders: distributors, retailers, and last-mile influencers. For Abhinav Jain, co-founder and CEO of Almonds Ai, this shift marks a fundamental departure from traditional, transaction-led incentive models toward behaviour-driven, data-intelligent ecosystems. In this piece, Jain examines how AI is enabling brands to decode partner motivations, predict engagement patterns, and deliver personalised, scalable experiences—ultimately redefining channel relationships from transactional exchanges to long-term growth partnerships.
Across many sectors, there is increasing recognition that motivating those who bring products to market (distributors, retailers, last-mile influencers) poses a growing challenge.
Brands continue to invest significant marketing and digital resources to consumers, yet in many countries and the vast majority of emerging economies, these types of consumer-focused investment areas have had little impact on ultimate product delivery. Rather, it is still the case that traditional retail continues to make up most products sold.
So why is it that the systems built around motivating these channels have yet to evolve?
For decades, distributor and retailer engagement revolved around static schemes – quarterly targets, volume-based rewards, and occasional trade promotions. These programs were designed around transactions, not behaviour. The assumption was simple: if incentives increase, performance will follow.
Now, with the advent of artificial intelligence, the definition of performance is being challenged.
With the development of artificial intelligence, businesses can move beyond simply creating loyalty based on transactional-based models and toward models built on behaviours, the behaviours of channel partners that are intrinsic to their motivations in engaging with particular brands. As a result, the means by which businesses develop relationships within their distribution network are starting to evolve; thus, ultimately changing how brands interact with those within their distribution network.
Assessing engagement: Transitioning from transactional- to behavioural intelligence
Traditional loyalty systems refer to transactional activity (sales data). Although this data is valuable and important, it only provides a partial view of engagement across the channel partner.
For example, a retailer may have a high frequency of sales of a product, but their lack of engagement with the manufacturer would not reflect that they have true loyalty toward that brand. Conversely, a retailer who actively participates in training programmes, acts as brand advocates, and is engaged in learning with the supplier would exhibit more profound levels of loyalty but would have been invisible based on historical incentive programmes.
Artificial intelligence allows for the identification of behaviours that help to address this gap. Brands are able to use a variety of engagement data points, participate in learning programs, respond to communications, redeem behaviour and track platform use behaviour in order to identify motivation through behaviour.
McKinsey has stated that companies that leverage advanced analytics for their sales and distribution functions can achieve as much as a 15-20 per cent increase in productivity due to increased awareness of their behavioural trends throughout their networks.
This visibility of behavioural patterns within channel ecosystems can be transformational to brands as they can now view how partners engage on their path to purchasing products, instead of just measuring the sales revenue generated by those purchases.
Predicting motivations, not just measuring performance
Possibly, the largest contribution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to helping brands engage with partners via channel ecosystems is its ability to predict future engagement versus simply measuring past performance.
Traditionally, brands only realised that a partner was disengaged (not likely to purchase products) once their sales performance had already declined. By then, the brand would have to use significant amounts of incentives or aggressive promotional activities to recovery their partner’s engagement level.
AI models can help organisations to detect early signs that a partner is becoming disengaged, such as declining participation in learning modules, declining interaction via the platform, or slower reward redemption rates. These indicators can help organisations to proactively engage with their partners before their sales performance begins to decline.
The practical application of AI and predictive analytics gives brands the ability to re-engage with their partners prior to their sales performance declines. For example, instead of developing and implementing broad-reaching incentive programs that provide a “one size fits all” incentive to all partners in an ecosystem, brands are able to develop targeted, engaging re-engagement programmes. This is how personalisation can be done on a large scale, such as across global distribution and retail networks.
The vast majority of distributor and retailer channels have thousands, if not millions, of individual channel partners. Historically, providing personalisation to such a large number of businesses has not been feasible.
However, with the advent of AI, personalisation at scale is becoming a reality.
Brands can now create tailored engagement journeys for all their partners, based on their partner profiles, through some combination of machine learning models and behavioural segmentation. For example, high-performing distributors might receive higher levels of leadership-based recognition and greater incentives to continue to grow. Emerging retailers, on the other hand, might be supported with training, onboarding rewards, and measurable performance milestones.
The shift towards personalisation of partner engagement echoes the direction that consumer marketing is already moving towards.
According to Salesforce’s report, over 70 per cent of customers expect personalisation in the way that brands engage with them. As such, there is a growing expectation for B2B ecosystems to have these same types of expectations from their channel partners.
Gamification and continuous engagement
AI is also radically changing how brands will engage with their channel partners through the use of gamification.
Many traditional incentive-based contests and leaderboards would spark temporary engagement among their participants, but they struggled to sustain engagement over time. With the use of AI, gamification mechanics are evolving dynamically based on historical and evolving participation patterns by their channel partners.
Challenges, rewards, and recognition structures can be modified continuously in order to sustain engagement with all of a brand’s partner segments. This will provide a greater opportunity to move away from episodic campaigns towards ongoing, continuous engagement experiences.
When channel partners receive motivation as part of their daily business activities through recognition, learning, and tracking their performance, long-term loyalty will be achieved.
Aligning motivation to broader impact
There is a growing trend within the channel ecosystem to integrate sustainability and socially responsible behaviours into the channel partner programmes of brands.
Increasingly, brands are motivating their partners to use sustainable practices in their operations, participate in sustainable practices like sustainability-related knowledge programmes, or promote products that are in line with their sustainability objectives.
Brands can use AI to monitor and measure these types of behaviours and incorporate them into their incentive frameworks so that brands can align their commercial objectives with broader social and environmental outcomes.
A shift in the way brands view their channel partners
AI is having the most significant impact on the way that brands are now viewing their channel partners, as it relates to the underlying philosophy of those fundamental relationships.
For the past several decades, many brands have viewed their channel partners as intermediaries in the supply chain. More and more brands are now beginning to view their channel partners as key ‘partners-in-growth,’ and their actions can have a direct impact on market performance.
In fact, all the channel ecosystems are using behavioural engagement platforms to design new models that reward not just transactional behaviour, but also create continuous engagement journeys for their partners, where their partners can receive recognition for their participation, learning, and continued engagement, thereby reinforcing long-term loyalty to the brand.
The future: Intelligent channel ecosystems
As we consider what the next phase of channel engagement may look like, many believe that it will be based on intelligent ecosystems, using AI to continuously monitor and adjust the engagement strategies used to engage their channel partners, in real time and based on the behaviours of those partners.
For brands operating in complex distribution networks, the ability to perform well will be determined both by whether products are available to their customers, as well as by the enthusiasm, expertise, and loyalty shown from each channel partner that represents the brand each and every day that they are working on behalf of the brand.
While AI clearly does not eliminate the human aspect of a brand’s relationship with its channel partners, it does allow brands to better understand and nurture that relationship.
In markets where the last mile will determine whether a sale is made, how one leverages the intelligence gained by using AI will ultimately be the difference between gaining a new, sustainable competitive advantage versus losing one.
