SPY PICS: Larger new Honda CR-V snapped
Next-generation mid-size SUV emerges bigger and boxierThe current fifth-generation Honda CR-V has only just come in for a mid-life facelift in Australia, but the Japanese car-maker is already working on its replacement.
That much is clear from these first spy shots of the sixth-generation 2022 Honda CR-V, which appears to be bigger and boxier than the existing model and features a long, flat bonnet.
The images shot at a test facility somewhere in Europe show the next CR-V will have a bolder, more upright front-end punctuated by a bigger grille and LED headlights, and tail-lights that could well eschew the vertical design seen on all CR-Vs since the 1996 original.
Also evident from these shots is a prominent character line that extends almost the entire side profile above the door handles, and wing mirrors that are now located lower on the doors rather than at the base of the A-pillars.
The bigger side window area also allows us to see inside, where a large free-standing tablet-style central touch-screen sits on top of the centre console.
The bigger dimensions make the new Honda CR-V likely to again be available with seven seats – something offered by only a few medium SUVs including the Mitsubishi Outlander and Nissan X-TRAIL.
Both those models will also be renewed within the next year or so, and the new CR-V – once Australia’s favourite mid-size SUV – will also face stiff competition from Toyota’s dominant RAV4, the recently upgraded Mazda CX-5 and Volkswagen Tiguan, and the soon-to-be-replaced Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage.
It remains to be seen whether Honda again denies Aussies a CR-V hybrid, which would be a serious challenger to hybrid versions of the RAV4 and, from today, the MG HS, plus the new Tucson, X-TRAIL, Outlander and Ford Escape.
However, given these are the first shots we’ve seen of the next CR-V, and the fact the current generation was only revealed in 2016, it’s safe to assume the new model won’t be launched until late 2022.
By then Honda Australia will have released its new baby brother, the all-new Honda HR-V that’s due here in early 2022.
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