Japanese auto major Honda, which entered the Indian car market in 1997, has crossed the three lakh customers milestone in the country and is introducing a limited edition sports variant of its sedan Civic priced at Rs 12.36 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) to mark the occasion.

Honda had entered into a joint venture with Siel Limited, a Siddharth Shriram Group company, in 1995 to form Honda Siel Cars India Ltd (HSCI) and launched its first car in 1997.

"We have crossed three lakh units since inception in India. To commemorate this achievement, we are launching a sports variant of sedan Civic," an HSCI official said.

The new sports Civic will be powered by the same 1.8 litre petrol engine as in the existing model but would have additional features such as front and rear spoilers, white alloy wheels with sports badging.

"The sports Civic will be of limited edition," the official added.

Currently, the Civic is priced between Rs 11 lakh and Rs 12.86 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi)

Till date HSCI has made an investment of Rs 1,620 crore with a further investment of Rs 1,000 crore being pumped in for setting up its second plant in Rajasthan, from where it will roll-out its compact car. The company has a current production capacity of manufacturing 100,000 cars.