New Honda Civic Type R coming soon

Get excited Honda Civic Type R fans because the global reveal of the new-generation hot hatch is only weeks away and its Australian arrival only months away.

Honda has dropped a series of teasers of the new Type R in recent months, the latest showing the hot hatch lapping Japan’s Suzuka raceway at record pace for a front-wheel drive vehicle.

“It [the new Civic Type R] will be shown in the full – there’s been a lot of camouflaged stuff shown – in June during the European summer,” confirmed Honda Australia director and Stephen Collins.

“[Local release] Timing will be announced then.”

Collins declined to comment on what that local arrival date would be at this stage, but carsales understands it will arrive before the end of 2022.

“You are welcome to speculate what you like,” said Collins.

When it arrives, the new Civic Type R is expected to have a mildly tuned version of the outgoing Type R’s 2.0-litre turbo-four (228kW/400Nm) combined with a six-speed manual and a limited-slip differential to boost traction.

With a bit more power, expect a 0-100km/h sprint of around 5.5 seconds and a 275km/h top speed. 

The news is not so good for Civic fans hoping Honda Australia will roll out cheaper versions of the mainstream hatch model launched Down Under late last year.

Currently offered as a single VTi-LX flagship variant priced at $47,200 driveaway as part of Honda’s new no-haggle pricing pitch, the new Civic hatch will be boosted by a hybrid model around the end of September that will take pricing beyond $50,000.

But there are no plans to introduce a Civic below the VTi-LX, Collins insisted.

“This current generation Civic plays a very different role to what the previous generation did, that is stating the absolute obvious,” said Collins.

“But we have no plan to go for a cheaper entry-level variant. What we are very much about is starting mid and high.”

The culling of the Civic range and the resulting rise in pricing has been a key contributor to Honda’s dramatic fall in sales year-on-year under its new agency model.

Honda Australia sold 263 Civics to the end of April 2022, compared to 1708 in the same period of 2021. That’s an 84.6 per cent fall.

Overall, the brand is down 38.5 per cent.

Honda says the global microchip shortage has exacerbated the fall in sales for both Civic and the brand.

It continues to target 20,000 sales in 2022, but is on track for a little over 15,000.

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