2020 Hyundai Verna Diesel Finally Faces Competition From All-New Honda City Diesel

In the BS-6 era, manufacturers have started phasing out diesel engines from their lineup. Until now, Hyundai Verna facelift was the only C-segment sedan that offered the option of a diesel engine. However, since the new-gen City is also going to get one, Verna will lose the tag of the only C-segment diesel sedan in the country. With the arrival of the new-gen City, diesel-centric buyers will have another option in the segment to choose from. Although, these engines differ a bit from each other.

Hyundai Verna’s oil burner is a 1.5L, 4-cylinder, turbocharged unit with a common rail for diesel ignition. This setup puts out 115 PS of peak power and 250 Nm of peak torque. Prior to the Verna, this motor debuted on the Kia Seltos and is also shared on the 2020 Hyundai Creta. The City’s diesel motor is also a similar setup with 1.5L of displacement and a turbocharger on-board. However, it churns out a peak power output of 100 PS and a max torque of 200 Nm. Thus, it is the City, which is the less powerful one here.

Talking of the gearboxes that are offered on these C-segment saloons with the diesel engine option, Verna gets a 6-speed MT and a 6-speed AT, while the City gets a 6-speed MT only. Interestingly, the power unit of the Verna facelift is the frugal one as well. It returns an ARAI-claimed fuel economy of 25 kmpl with the manual transmission and 21.23 kmpl with the automatic transmission. The new-gen City returns a figure of 24.1 kmpl.

The new-gen City is all set to be launched in the country by mid-July. Honda has commenced with the production exercise of the car, and the dealer dispatch is expected to begin anytime soon. Thus, the prices of the new-gen City are not yet revealed. The Verna facelift’s prices for the diesel variants start at Rs. 10.65 lakh and goes all the way up to Rs. 15.09 lakh. Since the new-gen City will only be offered in top-spec VX and ZX trims, we expect its prices to start from around Rs. 12.00 lakh (Ex-Showroom).