Honda Motor President and CEO, Takanobu Ito, was the one to lift the curtains on the all-new 2012 Civic hatchback at the 64th Frankfurt Motor Show . Designed, engineered and built in Europe at Honda’s Swindon plant in the UK, the five-door model promises to offer improved driving dynamics and a higher-quality cabin
The new Civic hatchback is roughly the same size as its predecessor measuring 4,300mm long, 1,700mm wide and 1,440 mm tall while riding on a 2.595 mm long wheelbase. When it goes on sale in Europe in October, it will be offered with two gasoline engines and a single turbo diesel.
The 1.4-liter petrol engine has an output of 100HP and returns an average fuel consumption of 5.4 lt/100 km (43.5 US mpg) with 129g of CO2/km. The larger 1.8-liter petrol engine has 142 HP and is available with a manual or automatic transmission. The manual-gearbox version has a combined consumption of 5.8 lt/100 km (40.5 US mpg) while the automatic consumes 6.3 lt/100 km (37.3 US mpg). CO2 emissions are 137 and 148 g/km respectively.
The most powerful engine available for the new Civic is the revised 2.2-liter i-DTEC turbodiesel with 150 HP. However, it is also the most frugal and environment-friendly, with an average fuel consumption of just 4.2 lt/100 km (56.0 mpg) with 110 g of CO2/km.
Mr. Ito noted that Honda is on target to meet its goal to reduce CO2 emissions across its range by 30% until 2020, and that the ninth generation of the Civic is first step in that direction, with its 1.8-liter gasoline engine featuring a 10% reduction in CO2 emissions and the new 2.2 diesel a 20% reduction, while at the same time offering better performance.
During the presentation of the Civic, Honda’s CEO said that the company’s latest model is “not just an evolution, it is an evolutionary revolution,” adding that “we [Honda] have jumped two generations ahead of our current model.”
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