The new Honda Civic set for Australia has been leaked.
The 2022 Honda Civic hatchback has appeared on the CivicXI forum wearing no disguise, revealing its lower-key new look.
An Australian launch is expected by the end of 2021. The new hatch is expected to come from Thailand, while the new Type R will likely come from the USA after Honda ended UK production.
We’ll update with images without a poser in front of them when they’re available
Down back, the hatch bids adieu to the lobster claw-shaped lighting details in favour of a pair of high-set units.
The current car’s sloping liftback tailgate appears to have carried over.
We don’t have images of the front just yet, but it’s expected to very closely mimic that of the latest Civic sedan.
We expect the hatch’s interior to differ little from that of the sedan, which means a larger, 9.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system, available digital instrument cluster, and a neat, restrained dashboard design.
Likewise, some of the outgoing car’s exterior excesses appear to have been toned down.
There’s a distinctive up-kick of the belt line at the C-pillar, but otherwise images have revealed a more formal look with fewer creases.
Local specifications have yet to be revealed, but we know the North American-market model will feature carryover powertrains in the core range.
That includes the turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine currently offered here in the 10th-generation car, which produces 134kW of power and 240Nm of torque.
North American buyers will also receive a 117kW/187Nm naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre four, though our current base engine is a 1.8-litre with 104kW and 174Nm.
Honda’s Australian dealership network has shrunk somewhat as the company gets ready to launch its new agency sales model on July 1, 2021.
The change to an agency model will see Honda Australia own all of its stock.
Dealers will no longer be able to undercut each other on price – all cars will instead wear a non-negotiable price tag set by Honda Australia, and dealers will be rewarded for each sale by head office.
Honda Australia sold 51,525 cars in 2018, before deliveries dropped to 43,868 in 2019, and 29,040 in Coronavirus-hit 2020 as it prepared for the shift to agency sales.
Annual sales under the new model are expected to drop further, to 1650 cars per month – or just shy of 20,000 sales per year, though that’s also due to Honda dropping models like the popular Jazz.
Civic sales could also shrink with the new 11th-generation model, with volumes potentially affected by the loss of the sedan body style.
Pictured: 2021 Honda Civic RS hatch (current model)
