Honda to Bring Fleet-Only Civic to the UK

The British division of Japanese carmaker Honda had just revealed intentions of introducing a new trim level of the Civic locally, aimed at the corporate market exclusively. Civic fleet sales were down 37 percent in the first five months of 2010, which made the carmaker consider offering a low-tax version of its hatchback.

The model that will compete against the VW Golf Bluemotion and the BMW 116d, will not benefit from a decrease in CO2 output, but Honda decided to go for a cut in the car’s list price.

“We asked ‘how do we make the Civic more compelling to the corporate customer?’ The answer was to make it as tax efficient as possible. As a fleet person it’s not possible to alter the CO2 output, so we have to reduce the P11D value,” Honda corporate sales boss Graham Avent was quoted as saying by just-auto.com.

Dubbed Civic Ci, the car is based on the Si model but adds Bluetooth and also has a P11D price more than £3000 less than the Si. The company hopes the new fleet trim level will account for 8 percent of Civic sales.

“The Civic Ci is not on Honda.co.uk and the cars won’t be in showrooms, but information will be available in dealers and for fleet customers,” Avent added. “The Civic Ci is not on Honda.co.uk and the cars won’t be in showrooms, but information will be available in dealers and for fleet customers through company intranets and leasing company systems,” he said.