New Models
New Models

2022 Honda Civic sedan officially revealed, not coming to Australia

11th-generation sedan revealed in full, with conservative exterior, tech-laden cabin and petrol powertrains. Sadly, it's not coming to Australia.


The 2022 Honda Civic sedan has been officially revealed in the US.

While the new, 11th-generation Civic sedan might be set to reach American showrooms by September 2021, it won’t be coming to Australia, with Honda’s local arm instead opting to focus on the stronger-selling hatchback body style, which is due to be unveiled within the next few months.

In typical Honda form, the showroom-ready Civic sedan is all but identical on the styling front to the near-production Civic Prototype sedan unveiled in November 2020, with differences largely limited to unique alloy wheel designs, a revised lower front bumper, non-tinted tail-lights and a simpler rear bumper.

Up front, a slim grille (with a body-coloured upper lip) is flanked by LED headlights, sitting above a large central intake and a small inbuilt chin spoiler.

The new car’s body lines and side profile are markedly cleaner than those of the outgoing model, while the C-pillar takes inspiration from the larger Accord (and, unintentionally, the US-market Cadillac CT5).

At the rear, L-shaped tail-light signatures replace the 10th-generation model’s ‘claws’, while a ‘ducktail’ lip spoiler is integrated into the tailgate. ‘Sport’ variants feature dual exhaust tips.

American buyers have access to a catalogue of optional Honda Performance Development visual parts, including an extended front splitter, a black rear lip spoiler, deeper side skirts and unique alloy wheels.

Inside, a 9.0-inch tablet-style infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and satellite navigation sits atop the dashboard on higher grades, while a 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster in front of the driver is available for the first time.

The dashboard itself bears retro-inspired visual similarities to the cute Honda E electric hatch, with a honeycomb grille spanning across its width that doubles as an air-conditioning vent, and grey wood-like materials around the gear selector.

Available features include a 12-speaker Bose sound system, wireless phone charging, dual-zone climate control, heated seats, and a choice of white or black leather trim.

Dimensionally, the new Civic sedan measures in at 4674mm long, 1801mm wide and 1415mm high, on a 2736mm wheelbase – 33mm longer overall and 36mm longer in wheelbase, but identical in height and width.

The A-pillar has been shifted rearwards by nearly 50mm for a more rear-wheel-drive, longitudinal appearance, while the rear track is up to 13mm wider.

The chassis has been revised versus the outgoing model, with the new car offering eight per cent greater torsional rigidity, and a 13 per cent increase in bending rigidity.

Noise, vibration and harshness have all reportedly been improved, while reworked suspension geometry and an aluminium front subframe claim to deliver a sportier drive.

Boot space is rated at up to 419 litres.

American buyers will have a choice of two petrol engines, both paired to CVT automatic transmissions only driving the front wheels.

LX and Sport variants both feature a 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated four-cylinder developing 118kW and 187Nm – identical to the outgoing, US-market Civic’s 2.0-litre engine – while EX and Touring grades upgrade to a 1.5-litre turbo four-cylinder making 134kW and 240Nm (up 7kW and 20Nm).

For reference, Australian-delivered versions of the outgoing Civic offer a choice of 104kW/174Nm 1.8-litre naturally-aspirated petrol four-cylinder, or 127kW/220Nm 1.5-litre turbo petrol four-cylinder engines.

It’s likely the American Civic sedan’s 1.5-litre turbo four will be offered in local Civic hatch models, though exactly which naturally-aspirated engine will be offered isn’t clear.

Mid-tier Si and flagship Type R models will return for the new model, with reports out of Japan suggesting the latter will adopt hybrid technology for the first time and up to 300kW. A manual gearbox should return in at least one of the performance models.

A plug-in hybrid is rumoured to be offered with the new Civic at a later date, though Honda has yet to confirm details.

The Japanese brand’s Honda Sensing active safety suite is available, including forward autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go and traffic-jam assist, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and low-speed reverse AEB.

10 airbags are available, including rear side airbags, and redesigned dual front-seat airbags designed to reduce brain trauma from angled frontal collisions. New A-pillar and firewall designs, along with stiffer roof, C-pillar, side sill and B-pillar sections all aim to improve crash performance.

The 2022 Honda Civic sedan will go on sale in the US in the northern summer of 2021.

The Civic hatchback will be unveiled in the coming months, ahead of the start of North American production in Canada by November 2021.

However, given Australian, non-performance models are expected to continue to be built in Thailand, when we’ll see production start for the local market isn’t clear.

Expect an Australian launch sometime in 2022.


Below: The outgoing Honda Civic sedan

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Alex Misoyannis

Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.

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