Honda will replace its Civic in 2022 and the Type R sports version at the same time. The pistarde is already found on the Web thanks to the work of illustrators, while speculation is rife on its engine. So, 100% thermal or hybrid the future Civic Type R?
[Mise à jour le 05/10/2021] After Honda revealed its new five-door Civic, the independent designer of KDesign AG used the official photos to imagine the future Type R. A logical choice, since it is again this body which will serve as the basis. Continuation of the soap opera, the officialization of the car by Honda which has just published photos of the car carefully camouflaged with a view to establishing a record on the demanding Nürburgring circuit. And to be seen, the stickers have turned red.
TO READ. Honda Civic Type R (2022). First official camouflaged photos!
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In 2020, Honda updated its Civic Type R with a slight restyling and an exclusive Limited Edition series. What to allowwisely wait for the next generation, which will arrive in 2022, even in 2023 in Europe, after the classic version which will only be marketed here in the fall of 2022. If the latter has already been unveiled as a four-door sedan, then a five-door “Hatchback”, the sporty Type R remains for the moment well hidden. It was without counting on the shrewd eye of illustrators and model enthusiasts.
This muscular compact will take up the changes introduced by the rest of the range, including a less tortured line. Nevertheless, it will keep an imposing size (over 4.50 m) and disproportionate sporting appendages. Starting from the official photos of the five-door, the illustrator known under the nickname KDesign AG has thus grafted a large spoiler, a triple exhaust outlet or a very ventilated front bumper. So many elements that have been repeated here without modification to the previous generation, but which should all the same evolve by the time of commercialization. Photos of a prototype show in particular that the uprights of the aileron will now be perforated.
The Civic bodybuilder will also be recognized by her lateral extraction gills and her ventilated hood. The same goes for the red keys on the Type R sports cars on the its flashy colors, like the electric blue used on the renderings or the Sunlight Yellow of the Limited Edition. As a reminder, this color was already available on the first Integra and Civic Type R.
TO READ. Honda Civic Type R (2022). The Japanese athlete in training
A 100% thermal or hybrid Type R?
On the technical side, rumors are rife. The 320 hp 2.0 turbo four-cylinder should remain in the catalog, becoming one of the last representatives of thermal Honda in Europe. But some also argue that it could receive the help of electromotors to develop a more powerful and efficient Type R hybrid. The sport would thus border on 400 hp and at the same time afford all-wheel drive thanks to the electric motors on the rear axle. The first option, less expensive and less heavy, nevertheless seems to hold the line … even if it would be synonymous with prohibitive penalty in France.
TO READ. Extreme test: Civic Type R Limited Edition taken to the Nürburgring
We also know that the production of European Civics will no longer be supported in England, since Honda’s Swindon plant to close in 2021 as announced in 2019. The production of European models should now be carried out across the Atlantic, in Greensburg, Indiana.
