Forget the toys: New Honda City TVC takes a jibe at rival sedans

Intensifying the war among the mid-size sedans, Honda Cars India has released new TV commercial for the City sedan. The new TVC has been christened 'Forget The Toys' and it obviously takes potshots at rivals that include Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Hyundai Verna, Toyota Yaris and others.

The 40 seconds video shows an urban office goer and he says 'toys, that's what they all seem like.' The actor then continues, they are 'trying to race with you, trying hard to be like you, they watch you, copy you and pretend to be you.'

Next, the young executive is seen grabbing the keys to his Honda City and takes it out for a spin saying 'They can never be you.' The TVC concludes with the tagline 'Forget the Toys'.

It is clear that the video targets the rivals of Honda City. The Honda sedan is one of the bestselling sedans in the segment for a long time. The model that completed 20 years of its run in the Indian market is the top-selling mid-size sedan in 2017 with sales of 62,573 units.

However, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz has emerged a serious contender now especially with the facelifted version that was launched recently. Honda City is now experiencing competition like never before with the arrival of Toyota Yaris and many new sedans are also in the pipeline.

Priced from Rs 8.77 lakh to Rs 13.80 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), new Honda City gets a 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine that is tuned to churn out 118bhp and 145Nm of torque and a 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel engine generating 99bhp and 200Nm of torque. The transmission options are a five-speed manual and CVT transmission with the petrol variants and 6-speed manual gearbox in the diesel models.

Honda Cars India offers the City sedan in S (petrol-only), SV, V, VX and ZX variant options in addition to the limited edition 'Edge' model. Most variants demand a waiting period of up to a month.