New 2012 Honda Civic Hatch cuts $5000 off price

Honda Australia director Stephen Collins says the stylish hatch will start at "the mid-$20,000s" compared with the previous five-door Si hatch which sold out at prices starting from $29,990.

He says this is the result of the strong Australian dollar and "an aggressive pricing strategy" and follows recent price reductions of up to $4300 on the Accord.

We can only imagine how cheap the hatch would be if it was built in Thailand like the sedan, rather than Swindon, west of London. The new model will have just 1kW more of power and an improvement in fuel economy of 0.8L/100km in the manual and 0.7L/100km in the auto.

But Collins says it will have more features than the previous hatch. It will arrive in two trim levels - VTi and VTi-L - with five-speed auto and six-speed manual transmissions. Collins says there are no plans yet for a sporty Type R model, but if there are, Australia would take it.

He expects to sell about 400 hatches a month while the sedan, launched in February, will sell about 1000 a month. Collins says it will receive a five-star Australian safety rating based on European results. The Hatch will be available in seven colours – Yellow Topaz, Alabaster

Silver, Crystal Black, Deep Sapphire Blue, Milano Red, Polished Metal and White Orchid - all with a black interior. The VTi has cloth seats and the VTi-L gets leather trim and heated front seats.

Honda Civic hatch

Price: from about $25,000
Warranty: 3 years/100,000km
Resale: 52% (manual), 53% (auto) - based on Si
Service interval: 10,000km/6 months
Safety rating: 5 star
Spare: Full-size/temporary
Engine: 1.8-litre, 4-cylinder, 104kW/174Nm
Transmission: 5-speed auto, 6-speed manual; FWD
Thirst: 6.1/100km (manual), 6.5L/100km