2022 Honda Civic Previewed by Prototype

November 17th, 2020 10:04 PM

We told you last week that the eleventh-generation of the Honda Civic would be shown on streaming service Twitch, and lo and it behold, it was on Tuesday night.

At least in prototype form.

The full Monty will be shown to us in the late spring of next year – seems like we’re waiting until the spring of next year for a lot of things, but I digress – with the sedan being first, followed by the hatch, Si, and Type R.

Since this is a prototype, the press materials are light on specs, but photos do show an automatic transmission in one shot. That’s about all we have at this point.

The latest marketing-massaged phrase for design philosophy is “man-maximum, machine-minimum”, which Honda says means that the car’s design and tech are meant to serve the driver.

Whatever, man. To our eye, the look is toned-down compared to the current-gen car, but still sporty. Honda pulled back on some of the boy-racer stuff without going down the road to Blandsville.

The prototype maintains some of the previous-gen car – it remains low in terms of height, hip point, and beltline. The roof pillars do move aft, and the sideview mirrors are now door-mounted in an attempt to increase visibility.

The hood is now longer, and the grille sits below the headlights. Body-side creases are meant to give the car a bit more flair. Insert Office Space joke of your choice here.

Honda gave this Civic a wider track and new taillights, plus a trailing edge on the trunk lid.

Inside, Honda promises a less-cluttered look, and honeycomb accents will hide the air-conditioning vents. A 9-inch infotainment touchscreen and digital gauge cluster are promised.

Other promised features include an upgraded version of the HondaSensing suite of safety and driver-assist aids, new airbag designs, and a stiffer body structure that should increase protection for both occupants and pedestrians while also improving refinement, ride, and handling.

We don’t have specs, but we do have some mildly shocking news – production of the Civic hatchback will shift to the company’s Greenburg, Indiana plant. That plant currently builds Civic sedans, but Honda is mum on future production plans, with the obvious exception of the announcement about hatchback production shifting to the Hoosier state.

Once we know more about specs, we’ll tell ya, but we expect that the Civic will have four-cylinder power and probably only offer a manual in the Si and Type R versions. Speaking of the Type R, previous rumors have suggested it might get some sort of electrification. We shall see.

Until then, feast your eyes on what is more or less the next Civic.

[Images: Honda]

#2022HondaCivic #CivicHatchbackPrototype #FutureCars #Honda #HondaCivic #NewCars #Prototypes

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2 of 29 comments

ToolGuy on Nov 18, 2020

“man-maximum, machine-minimum” a.k.a. "walking"

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Tonycd on Nov 19, 2020

Like most here, I like the deletion of the Boy Racer cues outside. Inside, I see a bunch of cheap flat surfaces, a continuation of Honda's long-term interior cheapening. Hard to believe it, but Honda interiors across mnost segments generally are no longer competitive with the Koreans. The bean counters call the shots at Honda now. If you don't believe it, look at the free fall of their Consumer Reports defect-rate statistics.

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MaintenanceCosts The sweet spot of this generation isn't made anymore: the SRT 392. The Scat Pack is more or less filling the same space but it lacks a lot of the goodies, including SRT suspension, brakes, and seats. The Hellcat is too much and isn't available with a manual anymore.
Arthur Dailey I am normally a fan of Exner's designs but by this time the front end on the Stutz like most of the rest of the vehicle is a laughable monstrosity of gauche. The interior finishes suit the rest of the vehicle. Corey please put this series out of its misery. This is one vehicle manufacturer best left on the scrap heap of history.
Art Vandelay I always thought what my Challenger really needed was a convertible top to make it heavier and make visability worse.
Dlc65688410 Please stop, we can't take anymore of this. Think about doing something on the Spanish Pegaso.
MaintenanceCosts A few bits of context largely missing from this article:(1) For complicated historical reasons, the feds already end up paying much of the cost of buying new transit buses of all types. It is easier legally and politically to put capital funds than operating funds into the federal budget, so the model that has developed in most US agencies is that operational costs are raised from a combination of local taxes and fares while the feds pick up much of the agencies' capital needs. So this is not really new spending but a new direction for spending that's been going on for a long time.(2) Current electric buses are range-challenged. Depending on type of service they can realistically do 100-150 miles on a charge. That's just fine for commuter service where the buses typically do one or two trips in the morning, park through the midday, and do one or two trips in the evening. It doesn't work well for all-day service. Instead of having one bus that can stay out from early in the morning until late at night (with a driver change or two) you need to bring the bus back to the garage once or twice during the day. That means you need quite a few more buses and also increases operating costs. Many agencies are saying for political reasons that they are going to go electric in this replacement cycle but the more realistic outcome is that half the buses can go electric while the other half need one more replacement cycle for battery density to improve. Once the buses can go 300 miles in all weather they will be fine for the vast majority of service.(3) With all that said, the transition to electric will be very good. Moving from straight diesel to hybrid already cut down substantially on emissions, but even reduced diesel emissions cause real public health damage in city settings. Transitioning both these buses and much of the urban truck fleet to electric will have measurable and meaningful impacts on public health.