Confirmed: Civic Type-R three months away!

HONDA Australia almost stole the show at Melbourne this morning with the unveiling of the Civic Type-R and confirmation that the hot three-door – and the radical UK-built hatch shape that goes with it – is coming to Australia.

As GoAuto revealed last September, the car is due on sale here around June and will become the first Civic Type-R to be sold Down Under, Australia’s first Civic three-door since the sixth-generation disappeared in 2000 and our first Type-R – period – since the 2004 Integra.

It will become the sports flagship of Honda Australia’s eighth-generation Civic range that arrived here a year ago, and will go a long way in addressing the dearth of performance cars from a company that built its name on ground-breaking models like the NSX supercar, the previous-generation Integra Type-R and the S2000 roadster.

Powered by a high-revving, naturally aspirated 150kW 2.0-litre i-VTEC inline four, the R-car can blast to 100km/h in 6.6 seconds and on to a top speed of around 235km/h.

It is also more refined, more flexible and offers a stiffer chassis than the previous version sold overseas, and has suspension and steering systems that are different to its current Civic stablemates.

Honda also took the covers off a limited-edition (1000 units) Accord Euro Sport model – with driving lights and improved safety levels – as well as its recently launched CR-V compact SUV and the hydrogen-powered FCX fuel-cell concept.

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