New Honda Civic Type R on the way: report

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By Brett Davis | September 16th, 2011

Honda has revealed its plans for a new Honda Civic Type R to be included into the company’s future line-up. The new sports model will be based on the just revealed 2012 Honda Civic hatch but it may not carry the Type R badge.

According to a recent Autocar report, Honda initially dismissed the idea of creating a new Honda Civic Type R due to pressures in the market segment, and the focus on compact sports cars shifting to more environmentally-conscious forms.

Honda chief engineer Mitsuru Kariya has now confirmed that a new sports model will be developed for the future offering a clear sports-oriented theme, although, it may not wear the iconic Type R badge. Kariya said,

“It [the performance version] is already under discussion. We know Type R was a big success, especially in the UK market, and we are now looking for a car to be developed in that direction. Whether it will be called Type R is not certain though.”

No word on when the new model will hit the showrooms yet, or what kind of specifications the hot hatch will run. We’ll keep you updated.

The current model Honda Civic Type R is available in Australia at drive away prices, starting at $39,990.

Richard

If it mirrors the American version then Honda will just slot the Accord 2.4L engine in it.
Matt

Whether it will be called Type R is not certain though.”

Does the top brass at HOnda have any idea what they are doing?

-no integra
-no s2000
-no prelude

And thinking of having not a single car with the Type R badge.

If this happens R.I.P HOnda, Bring back the cars of the 90′s.

I am a very big fan of honda, Owned 6th and 7th gen civics. But Honda is going to become irrelevant.

Look what Hyandai are doing, Real wheel drive V6 Sport cars, (genesis).

No wonder Honda are losing market share

http://CarAdvice The Salesman

The Honda ad’s should help you understand the Top Brass thinking at the moment.

What if a car was not this or that? But neither either

Luckily…Honda really thought about this….

What? So your cars have variable valves? WOW. Thanks Honda?

me-all-day

LOL Salesman
It’s marketing for the masses – naieve masses. No wonder they are struggling!

o

looking at the civic i would say that the top brass have no idea what they are doing
Matty B

FFS, Honda have completely lost the plot. They’re completely turning their back on decades of sports and racing heritage for what ? I know the Type R wasn’t quite what everyone wanted from Honda, it never quite captured the same audience as previous Type R’s, but never the less, it was the little glimor of hope in the old prize fighters eye. Just hopeing he may have that one more good fight in him.

Now we’re reduced to a Light, Small, Medium, SUV and people mover white goods. But wait, we’re trying to develop green options ? They’re relauching a tarted up version of 10 year old hybrid technology.

As excited I get thinking about what the likes of Hyundai and KIA are doing, I am twice as disappointed that a marque with as rich a heritage of Honda are just losing the plot and disappearing in the ether of mediocre.
http://www.facebook.com/crownleyian Nelson Nascimento

Why are we comparing Hyundai to a type R?

I dont see any Hyundai Hothatches do you?

Comparing to Renault Sport, Subaru WRX/STI, VW’s GTi/R, Ford St’s, etc… Spuds fair.

Also the excusse of the new european emissions is ridiculous because European brands are building performance engines with low emissions.

No money Honda! To produce a performance engine that is economic and low emissions Honda?

Matt

“Why are we comparing Hyundai to a type R?

I am comparing the Direction the companys are taking.

Honda= Environmental focus with No sport cars

Hyandai=Developing sport cars. (Real wheel drive V6 SPort cars (genesis should be here in a few years), V8 Engines etc.
Henry

The Veloster is a Hot Hatch…….

AndyGF

It was SUCH a success, we are not even calling it a Type R anymore?

Huh?
LN

This is the direction that Honda shouldnt be going to.

Whatever happened to the old ‘power of dreams’? Instead they are going for ‘mobility’ and trying to have ‘environmenatlly friendly’ cars.

Honda was best known for sporty, performance, power and reliability but now they are known for crap ugly hybrid cars for Bob Brown and his hippies.
HJP

Emitting the Type R badge will hurt Honda image badly. They have discarded their sporty cars, NSX, Prelude, Integra and it has caused downturn in Honda reputation. Unless the CEO decide to reborn their sporty image, they can start putting nail in their coffin. Honda is known for having good quality built cars but I am disappointed that Honda is now going backwards. Not good at all Honda, not good!
j

Environmentally conscious? So the “LEV” for low emissions vehicle decal stuck somewhere on my ITR is not environmentally friendly enough?

And iVTEC without valve lift is not intelligent vtec… it’s more idiot vtec than anything else. How can you have ivtec with no lift? The joke “vtec kicked in yo” would no longer apply…
wurd

Wish they would bring this back in, and make it the way it used to be: fun as heck to drive! Rev it up to 7000 and let it scream
Car Fanatic

Saw an NSX yesterday, was in excellent condition and still looks good. Shame on you Honda, you’ve failed many of your loyal customers.
Charger

Honda Power of Sleep! Amazing to see a once intresting car company falling behind what Korean car companys are building! Your clearly nowhere Honda!
Just like when you quit F1 all the adds saying without racing there is no Honda well you sure are living up to that promise
RB26

Such sad times these…bought an EM1 as a daily driver recently (I ve not owned Honda s before) and have been enjoying it so much…
Specially when u rev it past 5200RPM…epic sound, specially when u put a nice J’s racing intake on it and a good exhaust system…

On the other hand, I drove my mates 2010 VTi a few months back and it was so dissapointing…the feeling u get with the old 1.6 B series engine is just not there…

If only, if only they decided to at least bring the current JDM type R sedan here…but I guess that’s not going to happen…Honda’s glory days are gone….
Bangel

Just stick a turbo on it , that wil get the mojo back .

garywhopper

Yeah, then chip it like you did with your VW, yeah then run it on your mate habibs overreading dyno mate, yeah yeah

Bangel

More fun than your bogan crummer garyfloppy .

garywhopper

Tell us about your chip, did you get it off ebay, has it made your VW everything you could wish for and more

Bangel

No floppy ,APR , but it will blow your crummer into the weeds on B roads , crummers are only fast in a straightline , most crummer owners only have tunnel vision .
scatman

Yeah APR, dont hey have the valet mode, I bet you fool VW every sevice ohhh the warranty and the power, the best of both worlds.

You are sophisticated not like the bogans in commodores that get a chip much the same

What model is your VW 1988?

Bangel

CATWOMAN i have done it to three GTI’S , never had a problem just lots of fun , useless on a crummer atmo .

Still i dont drive like a bogan , donuts at dusk , traffic light GP’S .

Before the GTI, i had a prelude VTIR , loads of fun , fantastic handling ,but no grunt , thats what honda needs a turbo .

Doctor

Honda has lost the plot for sure. Just look at the Civic and American Accord – designed for the U.S.A. and they don’t sell well here. Also Honda spoilt the Euro – the previous model looked better and sold much better. It’s sad.

AndyGF

I think its worse than just design, shape and profile… Logic would dictate, that A CAR is just A CAR, but there is something these non-world car builders (like above) have completely forgotten.

When people buy something expensive like a car, very few people just sign over their hard earned cash and say ‘be done with it’! People are thinking before they spend these days, the last thing they want is to buy into a diluted concept, philosophy or brand, where your car is unique to only your ‘quarter of the world’.

Like saying “do I need a special design made just for me”? Whats wrong with me then I say? Cant you make me something that everyone likes, including me, and my neighbors while you are at it wouldn’t hurt too?
NOT? Oh well, Ill buy something else then…

Pauly

Oh God Honda….No more Type R?

Look I can understand that environmentally friendly cars are a must going into the future. But your environmentally friendly cars (Insight, Civic Hybird, Jazz Hybrid and CR-Z) ARE NOT HIGHLY REGARDED ANYWAY!

In the whole sheme of things:

- Your sports cars are rubbish (CR-Z, Civic Si, Type R)
- Your environmentally friendly cars are rubbish (Insight, CR-Z, Civic Hybrid)
- Your normal everyday cars are dull and the competition has well and truely caught up.

Honda you are very quickly becoming irelivant.

It is such a shame seeing a company as great as Honda was, ripping itself apart and throwing away years of histry and pedegree for what? Some rubbish cars that no one even wants anymore.

Bring on the domination of Hyundai, Kia and VW I say. At least they can still pump out environmentally friendly cars and still keep their sports car line up alive.

ITS NOT HARD HONDA! YOU KNOW HOW TO DO THIS!
Commentator

The future sports version, whatever it be named, needs to focus on torque and ride comfort for it to compete with the legendary GTI.
anthony

Bring it to Oz as the Civic flagship,as this new Civic hatch is the best,sportiest looking Honda since the Euro.
Simon

I agree here, I have owned Honda’s before and they were awesome, but the path they are going down is boring cars – agree with all your comments for the Intergra and PRELUDE!! We want sports cars that feel, sound and drive like sports cars – not cars that can travel 7000km on t litre of petrol, and the dashboard goes ‘green’ when you are driving economically
sequential

Some really good points from all above, it is amazing that Honda cannot see what is wrong with their current line up. The Jazz which I believe is under-rated in terms of being such a practical well built car but still too expensive in its class. Euro is beautifully built but has no practical boot space and the 2.4 is long in the tooth. The Civic Type R is a fantastic car to drive, yes its not as fast as the turbo hatches but it really is a true drivers car with a pretty hard core driving experience. This is a car that that makes you want to drive it, those who say its rubbish clearly have never driven one with the LSD (I suspect too many people believe everything on Top Gear). The problem with the Type R is its too expensive and should be priced around 35K driveaway always over-priced and its quite old now. Whats with the colour on the Civic above does the car no favours at all! Where is the flair in the Civic’s, 7 seat Diesel CRV, and practical Euro Diesel wagon’s. Come on Honda we all love the build quality and reliability now add some funk and 2011 specs oh and realistic prices!
Vins

I know Honda is still well regarded in many Asian region but fast becoming irrelevant here. Type R is great, but with it’s price, people look at Golf GTI; at least I would. The range is limited and dull. But sometimes, I wonder if it is Honda itself or Honda Australia is the culprit. In Asian countries, you could get a lot more Honda range. Some are practical for small family and small business (like Honda Airwaves) and they look funky (or at lease not as dull) too. Over here, we got less models than NZ (at lease they have the Euro wagon that we missed). I used to be a Honda owner. The car was great but I could see that some of their sales team are pretty adamant though. They thought most people come to Honda and will never leave the brand. Sad to see that a great car maker sliding into irrelevance. Or may be population in Oz is too small to warrant their attention?
sequential

Yes Vins, very good point about the lack of models in Aus compared to other countries, the current line up is very stale, why no diesels? If Honda made a CRV with 7 seats with Diesel power I would be signed up in a shot purely because of their reliability and excellent cabin quality.

Sadly the range is so boring and dated that buying from their Japanese, Korean or European counterparts is an easy decision.
vti07

Type R cars usually used an engine in the K20 family in higher states of tune. That engine is now discontinued. That is why the new Civic SI in the States has a K24Z7 (used to be K20Z3).

Some people would have remembered an article a while back that Honda was developing an all new 1.6 Turbo engine option for the Hybrid only CRZ. There was a possibiliy this engine would probably make its way into Jazz and Civic….
Samr

The only car Honda has now in Australia that is in any way class leading in design is the Jazz, the rest are pretty boring.

Honda needs some sports cars.
Wal

Owned an s2000 for 7 years, best car I ever owned, then an evo9, and now a mk6 vw gti.
I looked at the civic type r but compared to the golf, essentially the same price. It was a no brainer. The vw is lightyears ahead in everything.
I still think the hondas of previous yrs, ek4, dc2r, etc are classics and I would buy a clean one in a heartbeat for a daily
Dr Ivo Robotnik

Honda seems to be in a similar situation to Mazda back in the late 90s-early 00s. Maybe Honda will renew themselves in a couple of years (like how Zoom Zoom renewed Mazda), and within 10 years, the Civic will be the top seller in Australia.
anthony

The Euro is still the bench mark mid sized sedan ,but locally Honda could still do so much more with it…even South Africa have them with the wagon and diesel options,many of which I recently saw there,and America,Canada,and Mexico even have a 3.5 V6 engine option…
Henry

Boring Boring Boring! these cars are for old people that don’t care about cars, Honda if you are aiming for a young market, at least bring back a coupe.
Jonno Smith

Honda Japan is not interested in selling in greater volumes their cars (especially performance ones) to Australia, wakarimasda!
In a previous article reported in CA in 2009, (http://www.caradvice.com.au/45266/toyota-honda-disagree-on-sports-cars/) has the following excerpts:
…new Lexus LF-A, a two-seater supercar that’s powered by an incredible 4.8-litre V10 engine, Honda seems to think that’s old fashioned technology.
Honda on the other hand thinks the LF-A is a bit old-fashioned. Honda boss Takanobu Ito says the future of cars must now be primarily about clean, sustainable cars, and sports cars are no exception.
“Sure, there are folks who like that ‘vroom’ of the engine out of nostalgia,” [Ito says...]
Ito told Reuters earlier this month. “But those people are stuck in the past.”
According to Ito “the era of V10 engines is gone”.
Honda’s global thinking these days is towards smaller, fuel efficient and/or hybrid powered cars. Type R’s, S2000s, NSX’es will no longer occupy their future product portfolio. Even luxurious AWD barges like the Honda Legend is product history!
I’m appalled when some people start to compare Honda with Hyundai, they are not comparing light with light (or apples with apples). Honda is a technological driven car company while Hyundai is a volume sales car manufacturer. Hyundai needs to sell an ‘X’ number of cars every year whereas Honda looks to sell only to those markets willing to pay a premium.
Honda is number 2 manufacturer in Japan after Toyota. Honda Fit (Jazz in Australia) is a number 1 seller in Japan overtaking Toyota Prius; Honda Insight sells extremely well in Europe while Honda America is doing relatively well compared to Toyota America – How is Honda struggling? Some Aussies need to pull their heads out of the sand and go figure that Australia is not the center of the universe. Just because they’re not interested in market share in Australia doesn’t mean Honda are not doing well elsewhere. Honda Australia may not be doing well but Honda Global is healthy! Honda may not have enough cars (Jazz & Insights) to supply to Australia given the complicated ADR rules as well as safety requirements like stability control. Honda could be giving priority to other markets which are more profitable and less problematic. It’s not Honda that is becoming irrelevant but Australia is already irrelevant to Honda! Don’t kid yourself!