2023 Honda Civic Type R supply limited overseas, Australian plans yet to be confirmed

UPDATE, 17 November 2022: Pricing for the new 2023 Honda Civic Type R has now been confirmed – click here for more details. Our original story continues below.

Original story, 8 September 2022: The 2023 Honda Civic Type R is due to launch globally in the coming months, but supply of the new-generation hot hatch might not be able to match demand.

Revealed in July, Honda’s new Civic Type R is expected to be the final iteration of the hot hatch to be powered exclusively by a petrol engine, with the 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine’s 235kW and 420Nm outputs confirmed last week.

In Japan, Honda has confirmed it will limit local supply of the FL5-generation Civic Type R to 400 examples per month – equating to 4800 vehicles per year.

According to a contributor on the CivicXI enthusiast forum, one Japanese Honda dealer had received an initial allocation of 30 Civic Type Rs with at least 80 customers waiting to place an order.

As previously reported by Drive, Honda’s Canadian dealers have been told to expect just 546 examples of the new Civic Type R across three model years, limiting the country to 182 vehicles per year.

Honda Australia is yet to confirm how many Civic Type Rs will be available locally – or how much buyers can expect to pay for the FL5.

The 11th-generation Honda Civic was hit with a $7600 price hike when it arrived locally last year, potentially increasing the new Civic Type R's drive-away price to about $65,000 – given the outgoing model’s $54,990 plus on-road costs figure.

Australian Honda dealers have previously told Drive supply of the new Civic Type R is expected to be limited in its first release, although a firm figure is yet to be established.

Limiting supply of high-demand, high-performance variants is not a new practice – Toyota Australia has previously announced it will release just 500 GR Corollas in the model's first annual allocation, roughly half the number of Toyota GR Yaris hot hatches that sold out within seven days in 2020.

Last week, Honda Australia confirmed locally-delivered Honda Civic Type Rs will be sourced from the company's Yorri factory in Japan, the production location of the Civic VTi LX– the model’s sole local variant.

The previous-generation FK8 Honda Civic Type R was built at Honda’s UK factory in Swindon, which closed in July 2021.

The FL5 Honda Civic Type R's engine will continue to be built at Honda's Anna engine plant in Ohio, US.

From its local debut in October 2017 until mid-2021, approximately 1200 to 1300 FK8 Honda Civic Type Rs are estimated to have been sold in Australia – roughly 3.5 per cent of the Civic’s total sales over that period.

Honda produced 1020 examples of its swansong ‘Limited Edition’ variant for the FK8 Civic Type R in 2021, with 20 of those last-run vehicles sold in Australia.