A few weeks back I previewed the arrival of the latest generation Honda Civic, the 11th generation of a car that first arrived here in 1973.

A small car that captured the hearts and wallets of buyers with a list of features that were not typical of small cars at the time. The latest generation Civic lobs into dealerships this Monday, built in Japan with a more powerful, yet quieter 1.5-litre turbo engine driving the front wheels through a CVT automatic.

Just one model, the Civic VTi-LX five-door hatch priced at $47,200 drive-away. A price sure to raise eyebrows with Honda fans,  some $12,000 above the current drive-away price of the outgoing VTi-S  generation entry model.

As such the new Civic is pushing into the pricing position of German prestige small cars – whether it can live up to this price position will be interesting to watch. Honda sales are already down 39 per cent October year-to-date with the company earlier this year adopting an Agency model, in other words taking ownership of their own vehicles and allocating them on a demand basis to dealers – it also reduced the number of its dealers nationally, terminating around 35 under the Agency agreement.

The downside for customers is that Honda’s cars are now sold at a set factory price and there is no discounting.

I’m David Berthon.

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