These are not good times for sports compacts: many of them have disappeared or will do so in the near future due to strict regulations and electrification. However, there are some that have managed to buck the prevailing trend: the latest Honda Civic Type R keeps its internal combustion engine, thus becoming the last non-electrified model in Honda’s European range. What will happen when electric cars are inevitable? Fortunately, the Honda Civic Type R will live on.
“Without Type R, there is no Honda.” This is how blunt Hideki Kakinuma, the chief engineer of the Honda Civic Type R, was in an interview with Coach. Not only did he make it clear that the most performance models are very important to the Japanese brand, he also admitted that carbon neutrality and strict emission regulations make it “very difficult to think of a sports model of this type with these limits.”
Counterflow
It will be difficult, but not impossible. ensures that the current scenario is for Honda “a new challenge to provide our customers with driving pleasure. So there will definitely be more Honda Civic Type Rs.”
This declaration of intent is a breath of hope for a segment that has been losing members over time: the motor world has already said goodbye to the Peugeot GTI and will soon do the same with the Renault Sports. With the disappearance of Ford Fiesta We will also lose its ST version and the Hyundai i30 N will not receive a new generation in the short term. Following the example of Volkswagen that will continue with the GTI and R models, Honda will do the same with the Honda Civic Type R.
The future of the Honda Civic Type R
Of course, unlike the Germans who will make the Volkswagen R electric in 2030, the Japanese seem to have a different approach: “Carbon neutrality doesn’t have to focus on the powertrain itself: there is a possibility of achieving it even if you are driving a combustion car. I would not reject the possibility that the next Honda Civic Type R will have a heat engine, but given the current circumstances, this is highly unlikely. Is Honda talking about synthetic fuels?
For the Japanese brand, the Honda Civic Type R represents “a certain philosophy and that involves many aspects: it does not depend only on its engine. If this excitement can be provided with a certain powertrain that is carbon neutral, something electrified or has a completely different technology… will also be valid.
2035 on the horizon
Honda might be testing different carbon-neutral options for the future of the Honda Civic Type R, but of course it’s Coming Soon to reveal more information about it. At the time, they talked about the compatibility of the sports compact platform with a plug-in hybrid configuration: this leads us to think that the next generation will not be fully electric.
Of course, if Honda wants to continue selling the Honda Civic Type R in Europe, it will have to necessarily bet on engines zero emissions by 2035: the year chosen for the prohibition that will not allow the commercialization of combustion cars to enter into force.
