Well, you can't accuse engineers of hanging around with the new Honda Civic Type R. By the time the Paris motor show concept reaches reality in July 2017, the current FK2 model will only have been on sale for two years.

Will owners be peeved to have an out-of-date car so soon? Perhaps not, because the fact that only 2500 of them will have been sold in the UK by then will give them a rarity value that may well pay back in time.

Chances are they'll want this new one, too. The concept looks stunning - mean, moody and laced with over-the-top design features that could only belong on a Type R. This is a blistered, bulging hot hatch with old-school charms, and no one need apologise for that.

The best bit? The ducting that channels air from the roof sides down to the huge rear wing. Will these make production? Perhaps not, but it delivers a message about the technical detail Honda is going to put into the production car.

Even though Honda won't share powertrain - or any - technical details, you can take it as read that a front-wheel drive lap record at the Nürburgring will fall its way again. With Honda, you read between the lines, and when it says this Type R will "be the most extreme ever", you have to interpret it as meaning they'll stick to the tried and tested front-drive formula of now. We may love the Ford Focus RS, but we also love variety.

They'll be celebrating over in Swindon, too, where the car will be made and, for the first time, exported to North America. Honda's had a bruising few years in Europe, and expanding Swindon's global touch via a cutting-edge hot hatch can only be a good thing for its reputation.

A shock its reveal may be, but the new Civic Type R has already made 2017 look a whole lot more interesting.

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