Honda to launch the new model of Civic in 2012

You’re looking at the production ninth-generation Civic, unveiled ahead of its official launch this spring in the US and all over the world as far as the company is concerned. Think you’ve seen its pictures before? At the 2011
Detroit show last month, Honda rolled out the Honda Civic Concept in both coupe and sedan form – the production cars are largely identical to those show cars.

In the US, the 2012 Civic lineup includes a sedan and a coupe with standard petrol models, a new “HF” high fuel economy version, the “Si” performance version, one hybrid and a natural gas alternative-fuel variant. However, Asia
would get a bit different version; however, the shape might as well be the same.

The Civic Hybrid will have a larger 110 hp 1.5-litre i-VTEC engine coupled with lithium-ion batteries, an upgrade from the old 1,339 cc engine and Ni-MH batteries. The CVT is carried forward. The Hybrid will feature ECO Assist
technology and specific aerodynamic components. Honda expects it to achieve an EPA-estimated city/highway combined fuel economy of 45 mpg (15.9 km/l), an improvement of 4 mpg (1.4 km/l) over the old car.

While tagged as a fuel economy version, the HF is powered solely by a petrol engine – it’s not a hybrid. It does however get the ECO Assist system (standard across the Civic range, except Si) and the Hybrid’s aero bits. Combined
with the standard 140 hp 1.8 liter i-VTEC engine/5-speed auto combo, Honda expects the HF to achieve up to 14.5 km/l on the highway, better than the non-HF’s 13.8 km/l highway figure.

The sporty Si is available only in US and Europe as sedan or coupe, and is powered by a 200 hp/230 Nm 2.4 liter i-VTEC engine. This high revving unit is paired to a 6-speed manual transmission. Despite the larger engine (used to
be a 2.0) and a 22% increase in torque, the Civic Si is expected to get a better economy figure from the EPA.

As you can see, the new Civic retains the familiar silhouette, but the area below the C-pillar seems to be more sculpted. And while the front design doesn’t depart much from the current car, the rear is all new and sportier looking
in my opinion.

The cabin, seen for the first time here, follows the same two-tier with blue lighting sci-fi theme, but the centre console is now angled towards the driver. The top tier also includes a supplementary screen, perhaps to show ECO
Assist or stereo functions. There’s also a new look steering wheel. To its left is the green ECON button, essentially a “power save mode” that the Insight Hybrid also has.

Nevertheless, the new civic is predicting to break all records as it releases in 2012 in Pakistan as well. However, it is yet to be seen if it brings any change to its rivals in the market, mainly Toyota, who have just released
their new model. 

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=5045

Posted by Khayyam Bokhari on Nov 29 2011. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry