2021 Honda Civic sedan breaks cover

Honda has officially unwrapped its 11th-generation Honda Civic sedan that introduces an all-new look and fresh tech to help it battle the latest Volkswagen Golf and other popular premium-oriented small cars.

The 2021 Honda Civic hatch is already confirmed for Australia, but the local arm of the Japanese brand has ruled out the new-generation sedan for now, citing hatchback as the preferred body style for the vast majority of buyers.

A launch date for the hatch is anticipated in the second half of 2021.

Created to offer more of a 'premium' look, the new Honda Civic sedan is identical to the leaked car that surfaced online in March and was heavily inspired by the 2020 prototype concept that came before it.

Overall, the Civic now sports a more grown-up, conservative, cleaner look inspired by the most recent Honda Jazz supermini and the Honda HR-V SUV.

Featuring a longer bonnet, smoother headlights and what’s said to be a more assertive side profile, the production car carries over the concept’s almost BMW-esque rear-end design.

Up front, the more traditional Honda ‘face’ combines a small grille and large lower air dam on the front apron.

It’s perhaps the rear-end that really grabs attention with its Euro-inspired LED tail-lights, in-built duck-tail boot spoiler, shark-fin antenna and integrated exhaust pipes.

Inside, the Civic's cabin is a master of minimalism, with the button count slashed over the outgoing model.

Featuring a long strip used for ventilation, the Civic gets a floating landscape-mounted infotainment system that is 7.0-inch in diameter for the lower-spec cars and 9.0-inch for the high-spec versions.

Said to feature simpler menus and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, the new touch-screen is joined by a 10.2-inch full digital instrument cluster that sits ahead of a new steering wheel.

Cheaper versions come equipped with a 7.0-inch instrument panel that flanks an analogue speedometer.

New seats and higher-grade materials have also been introduced, says Honda.

Sitting on a heavily updated version of the current car's platform, the revised architecture is claimed to be eight per cent more rigid, while offering a better ride quality, improved handling and enhanced refinement.

Further tweaks specific to the sedan to improve handling have involved a wider rear track and the introduction of a new stiffer aluminium sub-frame and a recalibrated power steering.

On the tech front, the Civic sedan is the beneficiary of Honda's latest semi-autonomous driver assist systems, including autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with cyclist and pedestrian detection that uses new camera tech that's claimed to better read the road ahead.

That's why, the Japanese car-maker claims, the Civic sedan's adaptive cruise is now said to behave more naturally.

In the US, the Civic sedan is offered with a 118kW naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and a turbocharged 1.5-litre turbo four that produces 134kW. Both are combined with a CVT automatic.

Both of those engines are unlikely to be offered in the hatch we'll get. Instead, our line-up is expected to feature Honda's latest e:HEV powertrain that blends a turbocharged 1.5-litre with two electric motors.

Already used in the latest Honda Jazz, total output is expected to be around 96kW, while peak torque is 253Nm.

Range-topping versions could come with the same e:HEV system mated to the larger 2.0-litre from the latest CR-V.

Honda will introduce a flagship Civic Type R version down the track that's expected to produce significantly more power the current 238kW 2.0-litre turbo.

It's thought the new hatchback version of the 11th-generation Civic is a matter of weeks away ahead of its launch Down Under in the second half of 2021.