Honda Civic Si Coupe and Civic Sedan Concepts

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Honda Civic Si Coupe and Civic Sedan Concepts

The Honda Civic, a perennial compact bestseller, is being readied for a major makeover, and this is essentially what the coupe and sedan will look like when they go on sale this spring as 2012 models. We say essentially, because the cars unveiled at the 2011 North American International Auto Show in Detroit—coupe and sedan body styles—were presented as concepts.

This is typical Honda preview tease, but aside from the 19-inch wheels and some minor exterior trim, the concepts are very faithful representatives of the production cars’ styling. Clearly, Honda was going for an evolutionary take on the current Civic’s shape. Also typical of Honda preview, very little substance accompanied the showbiz reveal ceremony. No specifications, no price info.

Insider Tips and Guesstimating

However, we do have some insider hints regarding these preview princesses, as well as some educated guesses. Honda verified that these cars will actually be slightly smaller than the old models, and lighter, too; our guesswork has us figuring on updates in chassis rigidity, improved aerodynamics, improved crashworthiness, more refinement, and continued high marks for fun-to-drive.

What we do know about powertrains and model availability: The sedan and coupe will both be available in workaday variants, and the Si coupe concept shown here clearly heralds the return of that hopped-up model. Honda also said that the 2012 Civic sedan will come in three additional flavors: Si, hybrid, and natural-gas.