At a private event held the day before the 2016 New York International Auto Show – and featuring teen-dream guest stars Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas – Honda pulled the wraps off the Civic Hatchback Prototype. While this different looking hot hatch premiered at the recent Geneva Motor Show, the event in Hell’s Kitchen served to confirm that the car is headed our way later this year as a 2017 model.
The compact car, which will eventually be called either the “Civic Hatchback” or “Civic 5-Door” once it appears in production form, will be built exclusively in Honda’s British plant in Swindon. The new prototype showcases a different form for Canadians familiar with the Civic. But it picks up on design cues established by the current Euro-spec version of the Civic Hatchback, which has had diehard Honda enthusiasts pining away for years now.
Although the complete scope of final technical details has yet to be released, Honda did announce that the car would be powered by a turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder that develops 175 horsepower. This engine will be linked to either a high-performance CVT or a six-speed manual transmission. Honda expects its new hatch to have comparable acceleration to the current Civic Si and highway fuel consumption in the area of 5.6 litres/100 km. An even speedier Type R version is also on the way.
When can we buy it, and for how much?
The production version of the Civic Hatchback Prototype will be introduced this September; pricing should be announced at that time.
Cool quotient
4.5 stars (out of 5)
A turbocharged, Euro-styled hot hatch – what’s not to like?