Honda locks Civic in for 2019 Australian update
BY JUSTIN HILLIARD | 14th Aug 2018
HONDA Australia has confirmed that a minor update for its 10th-generation Civic small car will touch down in 2019, with it to usher in exterior revisions and improved value, which is likely to include the rollout of more active safety equipment.
Speaking to GoAuto, Honda Australia public relations assistant manager Naomi Rebeschini revealed that a model-year upgrade for the Civic will enter showrooms at some stage next year.
“We have no planned changes this year for Civic, (but) there will be an update in 2019,” she said.
“(As) with any update, there will be some modest styling changes, and we always look to see how we can increase value-for-money for our customers.”
As previously reported, Honda Australia will roll out its suite of advanced driver-assist systems, dubbed Honda Sensing, across all new-generation models by 2022, while some existing models – including the Civic – might receive it suite before their replacements arrive.
The Civic sedan and hatch’s VTi-LX flagship is the only grade to currently include Honda Sensing as standard, so the incoming upgrade could coincide with its range-wide introduction.
Given that Honda’s US arm has made a similar move with its recently-revealed Civic update, it is possible that Honda Australia will follow suit.
Honda Sensing consists of a forward collision warning, autonomous emergency braking, pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, lane departure warning, lane-keep assist and steering assist.
When questioned if the styling changes to the aforementioned US-market Civic are indicative of what will be sold in Australia, Ms Rebeschini said that local specifications are yet to be confirmed.
Shown in four-door sedan and not-for-Australia two-door coupe forms, the upgraded US-market Civic features tweaks to the current model’s front- and rear-end designs.
A new Piano Black grille pairs with a restyled bumper incorporating chrome foglight accents and a full-width splitter up front. The halogen or LED headlights have also been redesigned.
The sedan’s rear has picked up a chrome accent to the lower sections of its bumper, while fresh alloy wheel designs round out the exterior changes.
A Sport grade has also been introduced to the US-market Civic, adding a bootlid-mounted spoiler and a diffuser-style rear bumper with a chrome polygonal exhaust finisher to the sedan, among other changes. It is not known yet if Honda Australia will offer the Sport locally.
Sales of the Civic have increased this year, with 8587 examples sold to the end of July – a 12.5 per cent improvement over the 7635 deliveries made during the same period in 2017.
As such, the Civic is currently sixth in the sub-$40,000 small-car segment, trailing the Toyota Corolla (21,737 units), Mazda3 (19,533), Hyundai i30 (17,158), Volkswagen Golf (12,107) and Kia Cerato (11,660).
