Honda will reveal the new Civic Type R sometime next month. That doesn’t leave a lot of time between now and then for Honda to finish up the car’s development, but the automaker is using what time it does have to refine the model further. Fresh spy shots capture the upcoming hot hatch back the famous Nurburgring race track ahead of its June debut.
The photos capture the car careening around a sweeping corner. Honda continues to hide the car’s finer styling details under a tight camouflage wrap, but its sportiness bleeds through, especially at the front. The car adopts the Civic’s more subdued styling, but it has all the hallmarks of the Type R. The larger wing, center-exit exhaust, and sportier face are easy to spot even with the full-body covering.
Gallery: 2023 Honda Civic Type R
We expect Honda to power the new Type R with an evolution of its turbocharged 2.0-liter engine. It makes 306 horsepower (228 kilowatts) in the FK8 Civic in the US, but there’s hope that Honda bumps that up for the new variant. Our fingers are crossed, but we don’t expect a big jump. There were rumors of a 400-horsepower (298-kilowatt) hybrid, but nothing has materialized to support that. Honda will offer the Type R exclusively with a manual transmission.
The new Type R should receive several performance upgrades, such as a limited-slip differential. The upgraded appearance bits should improve the car’s aerodynamics and handling. There’s a good chance this might be the last ICE-powered Honda in Europe, too, as the continent enacts stricter and stricter emissions regulations. However, the entire industry is moving toward hybrids and full EVs.
Honda will launch the global Type R in June, with the US version getting its reveal in July during the NTT IndyCar Series event at Mid-Ohio. Don’t expect any significant differences between the two. We hope to learn when the new Type R will enter production and when it will begin arriving at US dealers. It should arrive in the US as a 2023 model, and Honda might introduce it by setting a new lap record at the Nurburgring race track with the hatch.
