Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) has decided to discontinue the sale of the Civic Hybrid in the country, less than a year after its launch. The car will now be available only as a direct import. In November 2008, Honda had shocked the auto industry by announcing an unprecedented 40 per cent price cut on the then not-so-popular Hybrid. After the announcement of the cut, Honda received as many as 235 bookings for the car in just four days, which was almost four times the number of orders received in the preceding 5 months. All in all, however, the Hybrid did not manage to dazzle the Indian car buyer – mainly because of its price tag. The Civic Hybrid, before the discount, was priced at a whopping Rs.21.50 lakh, almost double the price of the car’s petrol version. This was due to the 105 per cent import duty on it. Honda attributes the car’s failure to become a hit, to the lack of government support for imported hybrid cars, among other factors.
