Honda Civic Type R sold out for two years

SUPPLY problems are bad enough at the best of times, but there’s one thing Honda definitely has an oversupply of: demand for its hot new Civic Type R.

The company currently holds over 1000 orders for its 2.0-litre turbocharged hot hatch, and while its waiting list forecast for that particular model was “up to 20 months” at the end of January, that’s now swelled to 24 months from March.

“It’s certainly exceeded our expectations, particularly bookings in the first month, so the hype is real,” said Honda Australia’s general manager of automotive, Matthew Evans.

“We’ve taken over a thousand orders (now), so we’re managing that pipeline – we’re optimistic about being able to fill those customer orders.”

However, according to Honda Australia managing director Carolyn McMahon, that order bank is enough to soak up 24 months of allocation at present levels.

Speaking to GoAuto, McMahon said that while Type R supply is projected to be steady rather than sporadic, the huge level of interest in the vehicle – not just in Australia but in Europe, the USA and Japan – means allocations will be limited for the foreseeable future.

Honda Japan even issued a stop-sale on the Civic Type R to all its dealers in mid-January, which has yet to be lifted, though at this stage Honda Australia isn’t talking about adopting a similar strategy to bring demand back into alignment with supply.

The Civic Type R has very little in the way of range complexity – with no factory-fitted options besides colour, all Type Rs for the Australian market are offered in just one specification level. Even so, some colours have a longer waiting list that most, with white cars understood to have the greatest demand and, thus, the longest ETA.

The current run rate Honda Australia puts Civic Type R deliveries between 40-50 units per month, which would add substantially to overall Civic volume which has hovered around the 80-90 unit mark since the new-generation model arrived and adopted Honda’s new fixed-price, high-grade-only strategy.