Currently reading: Honda Civic Concept previews 2017 model
Close-to-production Honda Civic Concept previews 10th generation Civic, which will go on sale in 2017

The 10th-generation Honda Civic hatchback was previewed at the Geneva motor show with a close-to-production concept car.

Honda has now revealed the 2017 Civic in production guise. Click here to view it.

The new Civic hatchback previewed by the Geneva concept will be closely related to the 10th-generation coupé and saloon, which have already been launched in other markets. It will have a range of turbocharged engines and be one of the biggest cars in its segment.

Honda says it is 30mm wider, 20mm lower and 130mm longer than the current car, making it 140mm longer than a Ford Focus and 245mm longer than a Volkswagen Golf. Those dimensions should result in a far more spacious cabin.

Honda civic 2016 concept 668

The concept was shown without an interior, but it is understood that the hatchback's cabin design is similar to that of the saloon and coupé, which have a touch-sensitive central display and an instrument display incorporating a TFT screen. Don’t expect the basic production version to share the concept’s 19in alloy wheels or vast brake calipers, but aerodynamic details such as the twin rear wing elements (one high and one low) are likely to make it to production.

The Civic will be launched with three engines, of which the two petrol units are new, comprising 1.0-litre three-cylinder and a 1.5-litre four-cylinder motors. Both are turbocharged VTECs. Power and fuel economy figures haven’t been released, but the 1.5-litre produces a quoted 174bhp in the US-spec Civic saloon and it’s understood the 1.0-litre will be at least as potent as the 100bhp 1.6-litre engine in the current base Civic.

Honda civic 2016 concept 671

The smaller petrol engine should emit less than 100g/km of CO2. The 1.6-litre i-DTEC engine will continue in the new car, albeit with more power and a lower CO2 output than the current car’s 120bhp and 94g/km. A six-speed manual gearbox will be standard, with a CVT automatic as an option.

The Type R will use a development of the current model’s 300bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged motor.

Advertisement

Read our review

Car review

The Honda Civic is an impressive achievement and a worthy rival to the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus, but it isn't quite up to class-leading standards

Back to top

Honda civic 2016 concept 676

All five-door Civics will be produced at Honda’s Swindon plant, with sales starting in the first quarter of next year. There’s no official line on pricing, but a £17,000 starting price is likely.

Read more Geneva motor show news

Mike Duff

Mike Duff
Title: Contributing editor

Mike has been writing about cars for more than 25 years, having defected from radio journalism to follow his passion. He has been a contributor to Autocar since 2004, and is a former editor of the Autocar website. 

Mike joined Autocar full-time in 2007, first as features editor before taking the reins at autocar.co.uk. Being in charge of the video strategy at the time saw him create our long running “will it drift?” series. For which he apologies.

He specialises in adventurous drive stories, many in unlikely places. He once drove to Serbia to visit the Zastava factory, took a £1500 Mercedes W124 E-Class to Berlin to meet some of its taxi siblings and did Scotland’s North Coast 500 in a Porsche Boxster during a winter storm. He also seems to be a hypercar magnet, having driven such exotics as the Koenigsegg One:1, Lamborghini SCV12, Lotus Evija and Pagani Huayra R.

Join the debate

Comments
19
Add a comment…
jonboy4969 9 August 2016

Sorry, but since the Type R

Sorry, but since the Type R from around 2001-2005 (2nd generation model), they have gotten uglier and uglier and the rear window view has gotten smaller and smaller, and this version really is ugly, its all bits and pieces, it does not flow or look like it is a decent car, this is my opinion, but my best mate has a Type R from about 11 years ago, and it is a great car, he tried the new model 3rd Generation, and he hated it, he has owned a large number of fast Honda's, from Bikes and cars, so i take his opinion as gospel, but seriously this new model is dire.
Shouting at Clouds 9 August 2016

Put it back in the box

Put the disguise back on. Honda need to have a big think about their styling. making cars look like robots and monsters might wow them in Japan, but to the rest of the world - the styling is just plain hideous.
matthewmga 8 August 2016

This car is already on the

This car is already on the roads in Australia. It's big and it's overstyled. Just too much going on in the details. I can confirm it is indeed ugly.