Frankfurt show: Honda reveals final Civic Tourer
BY TERRY MARTIN | 9th Aug 2013
To be built alongside the hatch at Honda’s factory in Swindon in the UK, the Tourer will be launched early next year throughout Europe but remains off the agenda for sale in Australia.
Honda Australia this week confirmed to GoAuto that the UK-built hatch and Thai-built sedan remain the prime focus for Civic in Australia, with the upgraded hatchback – which includes exterior and cabin “refinements” that are still to be detailed – to be sold here.
The revised hatchback is expected to make its way Down Under as an MY2014 model, on sale from early next year.
Developed and designed in Europe, the Tourer will debut an ‘adaptive damper system’ that Honda claims is a world-first application at the rear end of a production vehicle.
It offers three settings – comfort, normal and dynamic – all of which are designed to “enhance stability and comfort under the varying load and driving conditions that the Civic Tourer is likely to experience”.
The final-form Tourer has retained many of the design cues previewed in the low, wide and long concept version presented at the Geneva motor show in March, which follows a similar path to previous models such as the Accord Tourer and Civic Aero deck “which sought to offer smooth design combined with practical and class-leading interior space”.
On the latter, Honda says the Tourer offers cargo volume of 624 litres with the rear seats in place (up from 477L in the Civic hatch), extending to 1668L with the seats folded (hatch: 1378L). The load height is also a convenient 565mm, much lower than the hatch’s 702mm.
A choice of 1.6-litre i-DTEC ‘Earth Dreams’ diesel or 1.8-litre i-VTEC petrol engine power will be offered, with both manual and automatic transmission.
Honda is also likely to use the Frankfurt show to provide further details of its forthcoming NSX supercar, following the unveiling of the ‘Concept II’ at Geneva (which is also to be shown at Frankfurt) and a prototype’s demonstration lap in the US earlier this month.
Promising “next-generation supercar dynamic capabilities with advanced environmental performance”, the reborn NSX is being developed in the US and will be powered by a mid-mounted direct-injection V6 petrol engine combined with Honda’s new ‘Sport Hybrid SH-AWD’ system.
The latter is a triple-motor high-performance hybrid system that combines torque vectoring all-wheel drive with hybrid efficiency through the use of three electric motors – one integrated with the V6 and a new dual-clutch automatic transmission (driving the rear wheels), and two other motors driving the front wheels.
Honda claims the set-up “enables instant delivery of negative or positive torque to the front wheels during cornering to achieve a new level of driving performance unparalleled by current AWD systems”.
Honda R&D Americas chief engineer Ted Klaus said that the prototype’s outing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, on August 4, just prior to the running of the Honda Indy 200, showcased the “steady progress” being made toward the NSX’s 2015 launch.
“With leadership from our R&D and manufacturing teams here in Ohio, we are developing a next-generation sportscar that will be equally at home on the street and on the racetrack, so it is natural for us to showcase the prototype vehicle here at Mid-Ohio,” he said.
“It is exciting for us to see the prototype running on track, reflecting the great progress we’re making toward the 2015 global launch of the NSX, as we engineer a new sportscar experience for customers around the world.” Honda Australia is also still to confirm the new NSX’s introduction in Australia, while overseas markets such as the UK are already taking orders.
