Given the current-generation Honda Civic’s relatively short product cycle and the release of the ultimate performance model, the Type R Limited Edition, the world is due a new Civic sometime soon. This also means that today’s lap record-setting Type R won’t be around for very long, and if rumors are to be believed, it’ll be succeeded by a Type R offering of higher performance thanks to goodies borrowed from the Acura NSX supercar.
Japan’s Best Car reports that a new generation of Civic Type R due in 2021 will allegedly repurpose the current model’s turbocharged two-liter engine, which produces 306 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, but will allegedly produce a total of 395 horsepower. The outlet claims the Type R will adopt a torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive layout with an electric motor on each rear wheel. Think of it as the Acura NSX’s SH-AWD system, but on the rear axle rather than the front.
The debut of this hybridized Type R is said to be planned for 2022, one year after the normal Civic, by which time the hot hatchback segment will welcome both the revitalized Volkswagen Golf GTI and a pair of less-conventional newcomers. Toyota will reportedly join the fray with a slightly less powerful, AWD- and manual-equipped Corolla called the Sport GRMN, while Hyundai is known to be planning some sort of mid-engined sports car.
Speculation so far points to this Hyundai having a power output closer to that of the Civic Type R’s, at close to 400 horses, though statements from Hyundai suggest this car could yet be something more ambitious—potentially even a Hail Mary aimed at the Porsche Cayman. All that’s clear is that the new Type R will have its work cut out for it, and hybrid or not, it will need to uphold its status as the head honcho of hot hatches.
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