The first Honda City was made in 1981.

Honda replaced the original City in 1986 (designated GA1), with an update in 1989 (GA2). This model was produced until 1994. The Fit name also first appeared as a trim variant of the City. There was no convertible model. In most European and Australasian markets, the City's market position was filled by the Honda Logo in 1999.

The third-generation Honda City, codenamed SX8, was based on the EF Civic platform. It was designed for and sold in the South East Asian market only.

This City is still a subcompact slotting beneath the Honda Civic, but a four-door sedan model instead for developing markets in Asia, and was built in India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Pakistan. A revised, face-lifted third-generation City was released in 2000, and included sports sedan models powered by Honda's 1.5L VTEC engines.