The fifth-generation Honda City is upon us. After weeks of teasing on social media, Honda Malaysia has confirmed that its highly-anticipated sedan will be launched in Malaysia in Q4 2020, with an RS i-MMD variant being among the models on offer - something that has yet to be made available in other parts of the world that already have the new City among their ranks. 

This makes the upcoming Malaysian launch a world premiere of sorts. And it's a big one because the i-MMD powertrain endows the B-segment favourite with a whopping 253Nm of twist. That's more than torque the Honda S2000 ever got from the factory; truly impressive for something we're expecting Honda Malaysia to price in the RM90k ballpark. In essence, this is the same e:HEV powertrain first seen in the latest Honda Jazz. And it should mark a significant improvement over the outgoing City Sport Hybrid in terms of performance and efficiency.  

While the hybrid RS i-MMD is expected to top the range for the 2020 Honda City, lower-spec models will continue to draw power from a 1.5-litre petrol engine; the 1.0L Turbo many Malaysians have been expecting won't make it here after all. That said, the 1.5 is a new mill with two overhead camshafts instead of one, so we'll probably see a performance upgrade all across the board, which is great. 

In terms of features, LED lights, 16-inch wheels, an electronic parking brake and even the handy Honda LaneWatch camera have been listed among the key highlights of the new City. It will be interesting to see how Honda Malaysia can maintain the City's price competitiveness given the extent of improvements made to one of its best sellers of all time. There's no word on yet that; just an early bird offer of a RM1,000 service voucher for customers who book the car before the launch. 

What we're fairly certain of is that you won't be finding any segment rivals packing this much twist anytime soon; heck, Honda Malaysia is even taking a swipe at the 2.5L Toyota Camry in the video below (click to watch)! If there's ever an affordable hybrid to look forward to, this is surely it.