2015 Honda Civic Type-R teased

Honda's next Civic Type-R is heading for a global unveiling at Geneva motor show in early March, and is starting to tease out some glimpses of what we'll see when the silk comes off.

A sketch showing the lines of the show concept -- which is expected to be fairly close to the production version -- has just been released, but reveals some features that haven't been evident on the prototypes that have been spy-snapped during test runs.

For a start, the rear spoiler is mounted with high bat ears, with the line accented by integrated tail-lights -- neither of which might make it to the showroom car, of course.

There are also large vents in the rear wheelarches, echoing those behind the front ones. If functional, these could survive to production, but possibly in a watered-down form.

We recently test-drove a prototype with the front wheels powered by Honda’s new direct-injected and turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder, and judged it as brilliant. In production spec -- with a six-speed manual -- the output could be as high as 225kW, and Honda has already signalled it has its eyes on a Nurburgring lap record, which means beating the Renault Megane RS Trophy's time of 8:07.97 set in 2011.

The Civic Type-R will go on sale in overseas markets early in 2015, and is on the wishlist for Honda Australia, although no decision has been announced yet. However, with the US not taking the Type-R, there's the expectation that some of its development might feed off into creating a hotter iteration of the CR-Z, which we would see here.

This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott