The updated 2023 Honda City facelift made its global debut in India back in March and is due to enter the Malaysian market sometime later this year. However, Malaysia won’t be the debut market for the City facelift in Southeast Asia rather, either Thailand or Vietnam will see the launch of the new City first.

According to Autolife Thailand, the updated City is rumoured to be launched in early July. Overall, the upcoming Thai-spec City could share the same new features and trims shown in the Indian-spec City including a fresh honeycomb front grille design, new front and rear bumpers, and new alloy wheels.

The only difference between the refreshed City for Thailand and India is the petrol powertrain on the former market. Instead of a naturally-aspirated 1.5-litre DOHC i-VTEC (121 PS/145 Nm), the petrol-powered Thai-spec City has a turbocharged 1.0-litre 3-cylinder (122 PS/173 Nm) to comply with the Kingdom’s Eco Car regulations.

Also read: Toyota Vios (Yaris Ativ) outsells Honda City by 2x in Thailand's April 2023 sales; snags nearly 60% market share!

Both the 3-pot naturally aspirated i-VTEC unit and the 1.5-litre 4-cylinder e:HEV (combined 126 PS/253 Nm) hybrid engine will be carried over in Thailand for the updated City.

Also read: Even though Toyota pioneered hybrid cars, it's Honda that are winning over Thais

Meanwhile, to the east of Thailand, Honda Vietnam has recently uploaded a teaser of the new City on social media with a launch date. Expected to debut in Vietnam on 4-July 2023, the revamped City will also have similar upgrades to the Indian-market model.

However, if based on the current pre-facelift model, the Vietnamese-spec City is only offered with a 1.5-litre petrol engine. Perhaps a hybrid variant could be introduced with the updated City in the country as Honda focuses on offering electrified models in all markets.

Vietnam could see the left-hand drive (LHD) market debut of the refreshed Honda City but will it also be the first market in ASEAN to see the introduction of the new City? Thailand has always been the Honda City’s base ever since the first model was introduced more than 25 years ago.

Still, the City has also been impressing Vietnamese buyers as it overtook the Toyota Vios to become the country’s best-selling B-segment sedan.

Also read: Vietnam's homegrown EV, VinFast VF8, is the country's best-selling car in May 2023

Over in Malaysia, we received info that the new City will offer Honda Sensing as standard across all variants. It’s a major bump compared to the pre-facelift City which only offers ADAS on its two highest variants, V Sensing and the RS e:HEV.

Also read: What we know about the 2023 Honda City facelift in Malaysia: Sensing as standard, new styling changes

As it might be offered with Honda Sensing as standard across the range, expect a price bump for the new City when it gets launched here. Currently, the outgoing pre-facelift City is still on sale with prices as such:

• 1.5 S: RM 77,600
• 1.5 E: RM 85,600
• 1.5 V: RM 90,600
• 1.5 V Sensing: RM 94,600
• 1.5 RS e:HEV: RM 108,800

Also read: Spied: 2023 Honda City facelift seen in Malaysia - to add Low-Speed Follow in refreshed battle against Vios?

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