Brace yourselves, Honda fans! Prices for Civic Type R in US point to big jump for new model in Australia

Honda America has announced pricing for the new Honda Civic Type R hot hatch, and it could be an indication of a significantly more expensive generation here in Australia too.

With US pricing for the 2023 Honda Civic Type R starting from USD$42,990, the car is now almost USD$10,000 more than the previous generation when it was introduced in 2017.

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While this isn’t a way to confirm exactly how much the hot hatch is going to cost here in Australia, past price rises both here and in the US give us a decent idea of what we can expect from Honda.

Of course, directly converting USD$42,990 to Australian dollars currently returns AUD$67,060, though that’s not always the best indication of pricing between markets.

However, the pricing for the 2017 Civic Type R and its price bump for 2020 are both quite similar between Australia and the US.

When the initial price for the Type R jumped from AUD$50,995 before on-roads in Australia to AUD$54,995 for the 2020 update, it was only about $350 less than it would have been if Australia had the exact same price increase by percentage, 8.5 per cent, as the US, where the price rose to USD$36,995.

If we apply the same to the increase from both the first (2017 to 2020) and second (2020 to 2023) price jumps in the US, a rather clear picture of Australian 2023 Honda Civic Type R pricing emerges.

The direct percentage increases from both 2017 and 2020 prices give us a range of AUD$63,900 to $64,289, both short of the direct conversion from the new US price, but only by a couple of thousand dollars.

Keep in mind this still wouldn’t be the most expensive the Honda Civic Type R has been in Australia.

Back in 2020, ahead of the update, Honda Australia brought 20 units of the Type R Limited Edition to Australia, each sold at a staggering $70,000 to customers who won a lottery style opportunity to buy one.

The Limited Edition featured 20-inch specific BBS wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres, with retuned suspension to adapt to the lighter wheels as well as the in-cabin weight reduction which was achieved through the removal of sound-deadening.

Mechanically, the Type R was mostly the same, its other major selling points being the Sunlight Yellow paint and the LogR data logging system for track use.

We’re not quite expecting the price of the Civic Type R to head north of $70,000 when it arrives in Australia, but based on the way US pricing has changed, it might sit in the upper half of the $60,000 to $70,000 range.