2022 Honda Civic previewed with a sleeker and more mature design

Honda has taken the wraps off the next generation of its perennial best-seller, the Civic. The new model – previewed in prototype form and expected to go on sale late next year – will be the eleventh generation of a car that continues to be a best-seller for Honda in key global markets.

At a time when several brands are ditching sedans in favour of high-riding crossovers and the rest are busy fighting for the glory of having the biggest grille ever on a car’s fascia, the new Civic comes across as refreshingly clean and sedate. Those two words would have given you the hint that Honda is betting on a contrasting strategy compared to the current Civic that’s all edgy and aggressive.

Up front are sleeker LED headlights, a more pronounced grille and a chiseled bumper housing a larger air dam. The profile continues to be athletic with a sharp shoulder line that runs the length of the car and a rising belt line that connects the fenders. The long hood, the kinked-up C-pillar and the mildly-flared wheel arches housing dark 19-inch wheels stand out. At the rear, taillights are now more conventional than the outgoing model and takes an horizontal shape that extends into the boot-lid. Dual exhaust pipes and an integrated trunk spoiler are cool and add a sporty touch as do the blackened elements all around the car. 

Interior pictures have not been released though Honda was kind enough to release a design sketch of the cabin. From the looks of it, the new Civic will have a simpler, cleaner layout with much emphasis placed on the horizontal elements. The dashboard has a trim piece with a mesh-like pattern behind which the air-conditioning vents appear concealed. All you see are small knobs for adjustment. Neat! A sporty, three-spoke steering wheel, digital instrument cluster and a tablet-like 9-inch infotainment screen that pops out of the dashboard are the other bits that are easily noticeable.

Knowing Honda, expect the production version to not look very different from this prototype inside and out. In addition to the sedan you see here, the new Civic will also be available as a hatchback like the current model. Of course, the sporty Si and Type-R trims would join the line-up as well. Riding on the same platform as the outgoing model, expect the new Civic to carryover some or all of the engines, transmissions and suspension hardware. That would also mean the new Civic would continue to be a driver’s car in a segment that’s known to not offer much for those seeking driving pleasure. 

Now, don’t sulk. Skoda Octavia is more of an exception than a norm!

Coming back to the Civic, Honda has a lot riding on this. Ever since the nameplate debuted in 1972, the Civic has been a massive success and a consistent best-seller for the brand. The current tenth-generation model that debuted in 2016 is arguably the most successful Civic ever with over 1.5 million units sold just in the United States of America. China, Canada and Thailand are some of the many other markets where the car has enjoyed considerable success. The new Civic sure has big shoes to fill.

Honda is coming back with a bang; onslaught begins with the new Amaze

When Honda took the wraps off the New Small Vehicle Concept at the 2010 Auto Expo in New Delhi, a lot was expected of them from their much-awaited foray into the affordable segments of the market. A slew of models they brought in - the Brio in 2011, the Amaze in 2013, the Mobilio in 2014 and the BR-V in 2016 - is proof Honda expected a lot from this platform as well. Unfortunately, with the exception of Amaze which tasted success in its first few years, the rest have turned out to be damp squibs in India.

But, Honda isn't giving up on them! They're coming back strongly and it is time the competition sits up and takes notice. Want proof? Just rewind your thoughts to the 2018 Auto Expo in New Delhi and google Honda's debut at the 2018 Jakarta Motor Show in Indonesia. 

Let's start with 'Hamara Dilli' first. The second-generation Amaze that made its world premiere at the Auto Expo this year was a star of the show and going by the response it garnered at the unveiling, expect the all-new model to fly off the showroom floors as soon as the cars reach there. And why not? Slated for launch later this month, the new Amaze appears to have improved considerably in pretty much every aspect over the outgoing model. Gone is the quirky design the Amaze is known for. Instead, the upcoming model gets a clean, almost-mini-City-like styling that not just looks better but far more proportionate too. Yes, we have said that for a sub 4-meter sedan! Going by the pictures floating around, the new Amaze's interiors are a quantum leap over its predecessor, ditching the low-rent Brio-based cabin for an upmarket one complete with segment-first features like cruise control and paddle shifts! Honda has even paired it's 1.5-liter i-DTEC diesel engine to a Continuously Variable Auto Transmission (CVT), a marriage that's likely to be exclusive to India. 

While Maruti-Suzuki's Dzire is on a different planet, we could already feel the rest of the compact sedans scratching their heads!

A couple of weeks back at Jakarta, Honda dropped the next big hint in the form of the New Small RS Concept. While the model on display was a racy little hatch, strip it off the sporty elements and what you see is pretty much the second-generation Brio. Interestingly, the fascia is not a carbon copy of the new Amaze, quite unlike the present Brio family of cars that look the same up until the B-pillars. The hatch looks bigger and more mature now, thanks to the horizontal headlights and the muscular front bumper with the large air dams. While the profile still has the tipped-forward stance and the two sloping character lines like the existing Brio, the rear has been completely revamped. The all-glass rear hatch has been ditched in favour of a conventional unit with sheet metal at the lower half. The loud taillamps are gone too, replaced by sleeker units with regular lenses. Ignore the superb sporty bits though. The chin spoiler, those side skirts, the huge rear roof spoiler, the bumper inserts, the darkened lights and the gloss black touches would not make it to the regular Brio. Still, this is something to look forward to. 

If the interiors are improved as much as they have in the new Amaze and the car remains a hoot to drive like the present one, the new Brio will do a lot better. They just have to bring this here.

That's not all. Recent reports indicate Honda is working on two new compact SUVs based on the same platform and aimed at the Maruti-Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Hyundai Creta, two best-sellers in the market right now. While the BR-V might be replaced with the bigger of the two, what happens to the WR-V when the other one debuts remains to be seen. 

Clearly, Honda wants to compensate for the lack of success of the first-gen Brio-based models in India with this new model onslaught. And if they do what they've seemingly done on the new Amaze with each of these models, they certainly deserve to succeed this time around. 

Bring them on, Honda, but please price them sensibly!

2017 Tokyo - Honda's Sports EV Concept is the tiny sport coupe we have been craving for

Small, cheerful cars are what Honda was known for at one point in time and, somewhere along the way, they started treading a different path with their models getting bigger and busier. At the Frankfurt Motor Show earlier this year, Honda showed signs of returning to its original ways with the Urban EV Concept. Small, retro-cute and a full-electric powertrain - it had all the right ingredients for success and, needless to say, the concept was appreciated and received a lot of love. 

At the Tokyo Motor Show, Honda followed it up with a smaller and sportier sibling, the Sports EV Concept. 

The cute little coupe is similar in design and conception to the hatch but a whole lot cooler, thanks to its chic lines and sportier stance. Up front, a black panel takes the place of a traditional grille with a blue-backlit Honda logo taking pride of place at the center. The same theme is followed at the rear as well while the lights themselves are similar in shape and size to the ones used in the Urban EV Concept. The windshield and windows wrap around the car while the sloping roof and rear windshield appear a single unit.

Like the Urban EV Concept, the Sports EV Concept gets the 'Honda Automated Network Assistant' - a personal concierge that can offer recommendations to the driver and the 'Honda Power Manager' - a system that store and release power from its own battery back to the home and grid. The car-maker has not divulged more details on the electric powertrain, so the power and range discussions shall be had later. 

The fact the Urban EV Concept would span a production model as early as 2019 had us all grinning with glee. Unfortunately, Honda has been tight-lipped on the prospects of the same happening to the Sports EV Concept so far. 

That said, an affordable sport coupe is conspicuous by its absence in Honda's global lineup and this tiny electric coupe, at the right price, would be a perfect fit as it is. Are you listening, Honda?

2017 Frankfurt - Honda's 'Urban EV Concept' previews a full-electric city car of the future

When was the last time you were excited on seeing a car as small as this? Not in the recent past, I presume, given the fact cars have only been getting bigger and bigger with every new iteration. Bucking the trend at the ongoing 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show is this cute little car from Honda, dubbed the Urban EV Concept.

Based on an all-new platform, the Urban EV Concept, Honda says, previews the design and technology that will appear on a future battery electric production model from the Japanese brand that could debut in Europe as early as 2019.

Have a look at the car and you'll agree its hard not to like it, inside out. 

Externally, the chic retro lines are a throwback to the wonderful compact cars Honda produced in the seventies and eighties. Those were the days when the Civic was as big as today’s Fiat 500! 

Replacing the grille up front is a display panel that connects the circular LED headlights and capable of flashing interactive messages like greetings, advice to road users and charging status updates. Cool, no? A ‘backlit-in-blue’ Honda logo sits right in the middle of the panel, a design element that the brand’s future EVs would sport. The windshield and the side windows appear to wrap themselves around the car. The rear gets a matching display panel like the front, only here the lights are perfect little squares. The wide and low stance, together with the flared wheel arches adds a bit of muscularity to this little city runabout. 

Access to the interiors are through rear-hinged coach doors, like the ones you see in Rolls-Royce. Two bench seats inside have been designed to accommodate four occupants. The minimalist cabin is dominated by a super-wide display screen that possibly presents the entire gamut of information for the driver's disposal. The screens even extend on the doors on either sides where they function as rear-view mirrors by feeding inputs from digital cameras. Notably, the whole cabin is devoid of knobs and buttons. Even the steering wheel, which these days houses a plethora of buttons, is delightfully clean. If this cabin makes it to production, we would be really surprised. 

Advanced technologies on board the car include 'Honda Automated Network Assistant' - a personal concierge that can learn to make recommendations by observing driver's past judgements and 'Honda Power Manager' - a system that can store and release energy back to the grid.

Though Honda did not divulge details on what powers the Urban EV concept, they did announce their 'Electric Vision' strategy that includes the development of a dedicated electric vehicle platform featuring fully-electric technology.

Overall, the Urban EV Concept is small, fashionable, non-polluting and futuristic. This is just what we need in our cities!

The folks at Honda have been caught napping by their rivals in the race for electrification, no doubt, but if the Urban EV Concept is any indication, they are making up big time for the time lost so far. Watch out!

2016 Sao Paulo - Honda WR-V makes its world premiere

The BR-V is still only a few months old out there but Honda is already on the march with its next compact crossover. This time, its even smaller than the BR-V and, crucially, less than 4 meters long. In case you are wondering, its christened the WR-V. In short for what Honda calls "Winsome Runabout Vehicle", the WR-V made its world premiere at the ongoing 2016 Sao Paulo International Motor Show in Brazil. 

Developed by Honda's engineers in Brazil, the WR-V is conceived to satisfy the needs of tough urban buyers who are looking for a rugged and spacious utility vehicle within a compact footprint. While the BR-V shares its underpinnings with the Brio, Amaze and Mobilio, the WR-V uses the same platform that the Jazz and City are based on.

Though the WR-V is based on the Jazz hatchback, Honda's designers have done just enough to give the vehicle a distinct fascia. As we saw with recent new launches from Honda, the front end is dominated by a split grille, the upper half of which gets a thick bar of chrome that connects the headlights. The lower half extends into the bumper which is already busy with a slim air dam, few sharp lines here and there, plastic cladding and a fake skid plate. The profile is straight out of the Jazz with bulky plastic cladding and roof rails being the only add-ons. Of course, the ground clearance would be higher too. The rear gets some CR-V cues which is evident in the way the split taillights extend onto the bootlid. Glossy black inserts replace the reflectors found on both sides of the rear windshield. The bumper gets an overdose of plastic cladding with an integrated metallic insert.

Brazil is where the WR-V will go on sale first and that's expected to happen in the first half of 2017. India is on the list of potential markets for the WR-V, given our obsession with SUVs in general and brand Honda in particular. When launched, the WR-V will rival compact crossovers like the Ford Ecosport and Maruti-Suzuki Vitara Brezza as well as hatchback-based pseudo-crossovers like the Toyota Etios Cross, Volkswagen Cross Polo and Hyundai i20 Active.

While Honda has not revealed the WR-V's specifications yet, it is anybody's guess the engines and transmissions would be carried over from the Jazz. So, the 1.2-liter iVTEC petrol and the 1.5-liter iDTEC diesel, both of which aren't new to India, are expected to power the WR-V as well. Apart from the manual transmission, Honda's CVT automatic gearbox is likely to be offered. The Brazilian market will include a potential flex fuel variant too.

The WR-V will be the smallest crossover in Honda's lineup, slotting below the CR-V, HR-V and BR-V in the Japanese brand's portfolio. There really isn't space for yet another crossover, we think. Honda might have other plans, who knows?