2017 Honda Civic Hatch
If you liked what you saw at this year’s
Geneva and New York auto shows with Honda’s Civic Hatch Prototype, you’ll be
happy to know that the production model is almost identical, even more so in
the Si / Type-S trims.
As evidenced by the lack of the center
mounted exhausts and lower body spoilers, plus the smaller wheels seen on
previous 2017 Civic hatchback prototypes we’ve spied and which were the Si /
Type-S performance variants, this group of testers we nabbed in the Alps are
the base models.
These will be powered by Honda’s new
generation of 1.0-liter and 1.5-liter VTEC Turbo gasoline engines, with the
former to likely develop close to 120 hp to replace the current naturally
aspirated 1.6 L and 1.4 L in Europe and other markets, and the latter that is already
offered in the US-spec Civic sedan, 174 horses. Europe will also get an
improved version of the current 1.6-liter i-DTEC four-cylinder diesel producing
more than 120 hp.
Further up the chain will be the Si for
North America or Type-S in other markets, which is believed to get a de-tuned
version of the Type-R’s 2.0-liter turbocharged VTEC four-cylinder pumping out
over 200 hp – possibly as much as 250 hp, to compete with the VW Golf GTI and
Ford Focus ST. Sitting at the top of the range will be the next Type R with a
more extreme body kit and at least 300 horses from the 2.0-liter Turbo VTEC
engine.
The North American lineup will include
the 174 hp 1.5-liter turbo engine for the base model, and from late next year,
the 2.0-liter turbocharged Si and Type R five-door performance hatchbacks, all
of which will be available with a 6-speed manual gearbox.
Given the similarities with the concept,
it should have the same dimensions making it 30 mm wider, 20 mm lower, and 130 mm longer than the current hatch that is not
available in North America, and as a result, offer a more spacious cabin.
The hatch shares its platform and
interior with the 10th generation Civic Sedan and Coupe that are already on
sale in North America, but unlike those two, it will be produced exclusively at
Honda’s UK Swindon plant for all markets around the world.
We should see the production 2017 Civic
Hatch bow at the Paris Auto Show in early October with its North American debut
to follow either in LA in November or in Detroit in January.
