Honda recently revealed its second-gen Amaze at the 2018 Auto Expo with a unique diesel-CVT engine-gearbox combination. The 1.5 iDTec engine is one of the most efficient units around, and when accompanied by a CVT, the likelihood of economy increase immensely, even in automatic guise. However, one should not expect this engine-gearbox combo to make it way to the current-gen City.
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The City, well into its life cycle, would have to give a miss to CVT, as the time and investment needed to engineer the same into the car would hardly be justified by the volumes sold. Effectively, the petrol-CVT will remain the only automatic version of the City. However, the next-gen City, due to arrive in 2020, is expected to come with a CVT for the diesel engine. Going by the statement of Honda officials, they will study incorporating the CVT on to more models, and the next City will clearly be a prime contender.
The company has already started testing an upgraded and BS-VI emission norms-compliant of the 1.5 i-DTEC engine and has stated diesels will remain an integral part of its line-up. At present, the Hyundai Verna that uses a torque converter, the VW Vento and Skoda Rapid that are available with dual-clutch gearboxes, are the only diesel mid-size sedans with an automatic option.