Honda has the dubious distinction of being the only mainstream carmaker in India, to not have a diesel engine on sale. Honda officials know about this and in a bid to arrest the falling sales of they're cars, they have confirmed plans about the launch of a diesel motor.

But no reason to celebrate just yet, Honda fans – the diesel engine is planned to arrive by the first quarter of 2014. The engine will be offered on three cars – the City, Brio and new Jazz, which arrives at the end of 2013. Honda also plans to introduce a Brio-based compact sedan before the arrival of this diesel engine, giving it some much needed ammunition against the Maruti DZire.

Honda had introduced a 1.6-litre diesel engine with 120bhp and 300Nm of torque late last year but this engine was ruled out for India because it wouldn’t have been cost competitive.

Honda will focus on high fuel efficiency and the cost competitiveness of the all-new diesel engine will be enhanced through local production to make new diesel models easy on the wallet for customers. Also expect the new diesel engine to be the cleanest in terms of carbon emission and be a light-weight unit as well.

Although the company hasn’t announced the size or power output of the all-new diesel engine, but it would be safe to assume it would be a 1.5-litre unit to benefit the Brio and Brio based-compact sedan in excise benefits. Expect the power to be around 100-110bhp in terms of power and 240-260Nm in terms of power output. All in all, it seems Honda has a lot on its agenda to keep rivals worried.

Honda fans! Is this a reason to wait with bated breath or is this too little too late? Speak up in the comments below.

Tags: jazz, city, brio, honda