While Honda’s PR teams are preparing for the Paris Motor Show debut of the latest Civic Type Concept, their engineers are in Germany testing a prototype near the Nürburgring.
There’s no way of telling if this tester is wearing the final production body or if it’s one of the many development prototypes we’ve seen over the past few months.
What we can say is that, it’s less aggressively styled than the study replacing some of its standout-features, including the huge wraparound wing incorporating the tail lamps, the massively flared front and rear wheel arches, front canards, bloated rear bumper and prominent side skirts with much less dramatic components.
For example, it still has wider front wheel arches with air-outlets, but they’re not as near as flared as on the concept. Give or take a few elements and the existence of the facelifted Civic’s front and rear fascias, this tester looks a lot like the Civic Type R prototype shown back in 2013.
Granted, the concept’s Touring racing car appearance isn’t for everyone, but it does help the Honda stand out in a very crowded category and that’s something we believe that the Japanese firm should keep intact.
What won’t change is the hot hatchback’s new 2.0-liter VTEC turbo-four that’s expected to produce somewhere between 280 and 300-horsepower paired to a six-speed manual gearbox driving the front wheels, with Honda gunning for a Nürburgring lap record in the segment.
Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoops
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