Honda Civic 2009 News

Honda is working on an affordable city runabout to undercut the benchmark Toyota Prius on size and price, aiming to have it on the road by early next year.It is already set for sales in Japan, the USA and Europe and the senior executives at Honda Australia have begun a push for local deliveries within a year of its global launch.Details of the new hybrid, which promises to be much more radical than either the Civic or Accord hybrids currently built by Honda, were revealed yesterday by company president Takeo Fukui in Japan.He says the newcomer - based on the on a concept car called the Remix, which was displayed at the Los Angles motor show six months ago - will be a five-door hatchback with seats for five.But it's not the only hybrid on the Honda plan.The company also wants to revive the spirit of its hot hatch CR-X with a petrol-electric model which should also be on the road by 2010.News of the new Honda hybrids comes in the same week that Toyota celebrated production of its one-millionth Prius. It is a promising result, but only comes after two generations of the Prius and needs to be judged against a Toyota target of selling one million hybrids a year.More details, and the official name for the little Honda, will be announced later this year, but Fukui confirmed it will use the Integrated Motor Assist system from the Civic Hybrid sold here and the Accord Hybrid sold in North America.He says that cost reductions on the IMA system’s components will make the little newcomer the most affordable hybrid.The IMA system uses an electric motor that can drive the car for short distances at lower urban speeds, and assists the petrol engine on demand.Honda Australia says the new small hybrid would be a welcome addition to the local line-up.“We’d certainly be very keen to take the vehicle,” senior director Lindsay Smalley says.“We’re sure that once the demand in major markets has been met, we’ll have an opportunity to take that car.”He says that sales estimations would be linked to the price point at which the hatch would be offered here.“There are lots of factors that could affect the final price,” Smalley says.“The exchange rate is a strong issue – while the Aussie dollar is high we could expect to bring the car to market at a far more competitive price than the current Civic Hybrid.“But if the dollar drops, the situation would be different.”Smalley says any cost relief in the components of the IMA system for the new hybrid could feed across to the Civic version as well.“Generally the higher the volume, the more the cost efficiency in production.”This would have the potential to increase the demand for the Civic Hybrid, which lags far behind its main competitor – the Toyota Prius – in sales.However Smalley says this is a supply issue, rather than being price-related.“There is limited production on the Civic Hybrid, based partially on the availability of IMA,” he says.“We’ve been capped to about 100 per month, and we’ve sold every one we can get.“We’re now getting strong interest from local and State governments. But the vast majority of our current buyers are private – people who put up their own dollars to buy hybrid technology.“Our main competitor depends on fleet and heavily subsidised sales.”Smalley expects that demand for the new hybrid hatchback would also be strong.“I can imagine the same demand, partly in the context of rapidly increasing fuel prices and the need for much stronger environmental outcomes and community awareness of those issues. We’d expect very strong demand,” he says.The hybrid hatch will be built at the Suzuka plant in Japan, with an estimated production run of 200,000 per year – half of which would be earmarked for the USWould you consider buying a hybrid car to beat the oil price rises? 

In the strongest indication yet that the missing link in the Civic garage will be redressed, Honda Australia senior director Lindsay Smalley conceded during a visit to the company's Swindon production plant, near London, last week that the five-door hatch could be in Australia by the middle of next year.The timing would fit neatly with a mid-life refreshing of what is now a three-year-old model.“I'm sure we'll be in a position to make some sort of formal announcement on the car by the end of this year,” Smalley says.“The European Civic styling has hit a lot of buttons for Australian consumers and we've found that out from our own customers, from market research and certainly from the Australian motoring media.“We were crucified at the original launch of the Asian-made sedan model when it was announced that the hatch would not be part of the model range and since then we've been working to make it possible for this car to come to Australia."“The Type-R was the first step in the journey and we've been continuing to work towards getting the five-door hatch.”While Smalley says Civic sedan sales are “sensational,” it's the strength of the small-hatch market that makes the prospect of getting the five-door model so attractive.“The small-car segment is clearly delineated between sedan and hatch,” he says. “The hatch sales account for 60 per cent of that market and at the moment we're not competing in it ... that makes having a product available in that segment very attractive.”Smalley says some Australian dealers have already visited the Swindon plant — the only site where the European Civic is made — to see the hatch, and the reaction has been universally positive.“I think the next step now is to get one of the cars into Australia for some serious market research,” he says.With the soon-to-be-launched second-generation Accord Euro growing substantially in size, Smalley believes the Civic hatch could slip easily into the model line-up without fear of cannibalising one of the brand's key models.“We would be certainly looking at premium prestige position and certainly targeting an affluent group of consumers who are shifting away from larger cars and are after a stylish smaller car,” Smalley says.“We have to bring the car to market at a price that consumers will see as good value — that's our primary concern. If we can't do that, we won't bring the car."“However, we don't see it as a big profit opportunity."“But we do see that mixing our sourcing portfolio is a natural hedge against currency fluctuations.”Smalley says the Civic hatch would probably arrive in Australia in a single high-specification model at around $35,000 with a 1.8-litre petrol engine and both manual and automatic gearboxes.Sales expectations would be around 1500 to 2000 cars a year.“Honda of Europe have been very receptive to the talks and while they obviously want to expand their export market they're also interested, in particular, in selling to Australia,” Smalley says.“The market is very competitive and if they can sell into it profitably it's something of a badge of honour for them.”That view was confirmed by Ken Keir, senior vice-president of Honda Europe and UK managing director.Speaking at Honda's UK headquarters at Slough, Keir said the breakthrough sales of the Civic Type-R in Australia had been a psychological boon for the company's entire workforce.“There's something special about our cars going across the world,” Keir says. “It gave everybody a lift. I would liken it to the feeling five years ago when we shipped our first cars back to Japan; it was that big a buzz.”Keir says if an export deal for the Civic five-door to Australia is confirmed, production capacity won't be an issue.The Swindon plant will this year build 238,000 cars — Civic three- and five-door hatches, Type-R and CR-V — within its maximum capacity of 250,000 annual production.“Supply wouldn't be an issue at all,” Keir says.“We have the production capacity to supply whatever may be needed.”Also on the horizon for Honda Australia is the new-generation Jazz, recently named Japan Car of the Year.Smalley said that although the new Jazz was an evolution rather than a revolution, there had been substantial engineering work to refine the A-pillar and improve driver vision as well as retuning and engineering of the rear suspension to improve ride quality.And while the large 4WD MD-X has been dropped from the model line-up — victim of a decision by Japan not to continue making the car in right-hand drive for the home market — there is, according to Smalley, a possible replacement on the horizon in the Kluger-sized Pilot, currently sold only in the US market.“With the Australia-US free-trade agreement and interest from other right-hand-drive markets, like South Africa, we would be keen to look at the feasibility of that car,” he says.“We'd have to put together a business case with other right-hand-drive markets ... but I think there's a clear opportunity for us there.” Snapshot Honda Civic hatchPrice: about $35,000Engine: 1.8L/4-cylinder; 114kW,188NmTransmission: 6-speed manualEconomy: 7.9L/100km (estimate) 

The explosive Civic Type R, which is a hit in Europe and has a completely different look to the familiar Civic sedan, will land here in about June. But that does not mean the rest of the Civic hatch range will come here, according to Honda spokesman Mark Higgins. “We have to have a business case for bringing the (standard) hatch here,” Higgins says. “It’s made in Britain which makes it a different proposition price-wise from the sedan, which comes from Thailand. It would have to be more expensive (than the sedan) and we have to be mindful of it being competitive in the segment. “But the Type R is something a bit different. It’s a high performance model that sells at a premium so it makes a different case. All its competitors are special cars and many come from Europe. But we still intend to bring it here at a very competitive price.” The three-door Type R hatchback is powered by a 2.0-litre with 148kW at 7800 revs paired with a six-speed manual transmission. Pricing won’t be announced until mid-year.

"Of course we would love to be able to get it, but it is early days," says Honda Australia spokesman Gareth Rees. "We have to make a business case for the car and that will most likely happen over the next six months or so. "One of the unknowns is how much the car will cost. It will be the first Type R car to be built in Europe rather than Japan and that could make it simply too expensive." Based on the Civic Type R concept unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March and confirmed for production just last week, the three-door Type R will be built alongside the five-door hatch at Honda's Swindon plant. It will be displayed for the first time at next week's Paris Motor Show. The Type R will be powered by a free-spinning i-VTEC DOHC 2.0-litre inline four-cylinder putting out 150kW of power. Honda claims the new Type R will put the sprint to 100km/h behind in 6.6 seconds and on to a top speed of about 235km/h. The car is also claimed to be more refined and flexible and offers a stiffer chassis than the outgoing Type R. It will have a suspension package and steering system unique in the Civic range. The Type R will feature many of the bodykit features from the original concept car with a deep front spoiler, larger air intake, triangular fog-lights and a black honeycomb mesh grille.

But picking up the keys for my new car, little did I know that within days I would be $333 out of pocket. And that's not counting the cost of my humiliation. The exorbitant fee was not a hire cost. Nor was it the cost of petrol or any other hidden costs. It was the price of my mistake that saw me reluctantly handing over my credit card to unsympathetic Adelaide City Council bureaucrats. It all started two days after one of The Advertiser motoring writers handed me the keys, telling me to enjoy my new wheels. Pulling up in an on-street car park, I was impressed at how smoothly the Civic glided into place. Never before had parallel parking been so easy. Returning two hours later, I was a little bemused to not recognise my car anywhere. Don't panic, I thought. These new cars all look the same. And for some reason, many of the cars in the street had Victorian numberplates like mine. Clinging to hope, I walked along the line of parked cars pressing the alarm button on my key waiting to see those familiar flashing lights. But there was no flashing. My bemusement quickly turned to panic. "It's been stolen," I cried to my equally panicked companion. "I can't believe it. I'm sure I parked it right here," I said, pointing to a vacant space. It was now his turn to look bemused. "Um, that's in front of a garage roller door," he said. That's how I ended up in the council offices the next morning – paying the costs of my car being towed from the front of a serviced apartment block's roller door and stored overnight, plus a $48 parking ticket. But even in my short time with this stylish vehicle, I learned there were many things to love. For a so-called "small sedan", this baby has plenty of room to move and a large boot which means adequate space for all those shopping bags. And for a girl whose usual mode of transport is a 1.2-litre two-door hatch, I loved the grunt of this 1.8-litre "beast". One touch of the accelerator and off you zoom. The interior light that automatically turns on when you turn the engine off is a nice little touch. It fades out when you shut the door. There really wasn't much not to like. Only a couple of little nitpicks – the dash gear display and tacho were partially obstructed by the steering wheel, at least from my position, and the handbrake got a bit in the way of the gear shift. So, towing ordeals aside, this beauty surpassed my expectations and was a pleasure to drive – from what I can remember of our few hours together. LOVE IT LEAVE IT Honda Civic VTi Auto Price: $22,990 LOVE IT The power. The roominess cleverly combined with a sleek design. Electric seat adjustment. Automatic interior light. Digital speed display. LEAVE IT With the seat adjusted, I found it hard to see the front left-hand side of the car. Dash gear display and tacho partially blocked by the steering wheel. Handbrake a bit in the way of gear shift.