Japanese buyers will be the first to receive the all-new fourth-generation CR-V, as Honda announced today that the 2012 CR-V would go on sale at dealerships across the country on December 2, approximately two week ahead of its U.S. launch that’s slated for December 15 and almost a year before it reaches European showrooms next fall.

The new CR-V, which we first saw at the Los Angeles Auto Show earlier this month, will be offered in Japan in two flavors, the 20G and the 24G.

The base, front-wheel drive only 20G comes with a 2.0-liter gasoline engine producing 150HP at 6,200rpm and 191Nm of peak torque at 4,300 rpm, linked to a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

It returns a fuel economy of 14.4km/L (33.9 mpg US or 6.9lt/100km) on Japan’s JC08 cycle and 15.4km/L (35.2 mpg US or 6.5 lt/100km) on the 10-15 driving cycle.

The 24G is available only with all-wheel drive and the larger 2.4-liter gasoline unit rated at 190HP at 7,000 rpm and 222Nm at 4,400 rpm, matched to a five-speed automatic transmission. Honda says that the 24G has a fuel efficiency of 11.6km/L (27.3 mpg US or 8.6 lt/100km) on the JC08 test cycle and 12.2km/L (28.7 mpg US or 8.2 lt/100km) on the 10-15.

The 2012 CR-V 20G come with a sticker price of 2,480,000 Yen (about US$31,900) while the all-wheel drive 24G costs 2,750,000 Yen (approx. US$35,350).

Honda said that it expects to sell around 18,000 CR-Vs annually in Japan.

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