Honda reveals new hybrid Civic and plans for full EV

The e:Ny1 – no clues yet as to what its real name will be – is said by Honda to represent the centre of Honda’s future product lineup. It will be pitched as a family’s first EV and, according to the company, boast “engaging driving dynamics, comfort and exceptional usability”. 

About the size of the Honda FR-V, the prototype battery baby comes across as a neat but conventional-looking five-door with many of the expected electric-car styling cues, such as a rear light bar. With a launch due next year, the shape is likely highly indicative of what the showroom version will look like. 

When it arrives in 2023 all Honda’s range for Europe will be electrified in some way, the final model to relinquish sole reliance on petrol power being the new Civic. But there’s no all-electric Civic yet, this larger, sleeker and more American-styled 11th-gen model now going entirely over to “e-HEV” power. In Honda lingo that means hybrid electric vehicle, something already familiar from the Jazz, Jazz Crosstar, CR-V and HR-V.

Honda says this is the most advanced e-HEV it has ever made: a combination of lithium-ion battery, two electric motors and a newly-developed 2.0-litre direct injection twin-cam i-VTEC petrol engine. Maximum output is 181PS (135kW) with 315Nm of torque, and target CO2 emissions less than 110g/km.

The design refresh revolves around a lower body with more of a fastback look and more glass for a lighter interior. There’s a 35mm longer wheelbase and interior room and practicality remain a model strongpoint, says the firm which likes to think of the Civic as its “do-it-all hatchback”. The exterior look is perhaps less divisive than the current car’s styling while inside it appears mostly familiar with plenty of physical knobs for those with screen-phobia while still boasting all the essential infotainment options on the central 9-inch display.

Honda is promising the new Civic will have “an unrivalled suite of advanced safety technologies” as standard, including a 100-degree wide-view camera and enhanced recognition technology to identify pedestrians and cyclists better. There are also sonar sensors for the first time while 11 airbags will help make it the safest Civic yet, says Honda.

Now built in Japan rather than the UK, the new Civic arrives here in the autumn – and yes, there will be a sporty Type R but no new details of that have emerged. With Honda saying it will not make its last petrol engine until 2040, it’s expected that the new Type R will represent Honda’s final fling to the combustion engine. We hope so.

There will be other new arrivals in 2023, a year that will mark Honda’s widest range of models for Europe in decades. Like the new Civic, they will persevere with the interim hybrid technology: a slightly larger compact SUV  and then a new CR-V, expected to go upmarket and be bigger than the current model with powertrain options of both e:HEV hybrid and plug-in hybrid. 

What else is coming from Honda? There’s a new robot, in the footsteps of Asimo, for the end of 2024, an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for city-to-city transport, and a fuel-cell system to power future lunar outposts. This is Honda, after all, so you better believe it…