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It’s been a long time coming. Our first sighting of the next-gen Honda Civic Type R in prototype form was a year ago. Honda’s official teaser campaign has been running for a full six months, and today we have yet another teaser for the hotly anticipated hot hatch. This teaser is different, however. This one tells us when the teaser train comes to an end. Save the date for July 20, 10:00 p.m. EDT / 7:00 p.m. PDT.
That’s when Honda will finally, officially, remove the camouflage and debut its new Civic Type R to the world. History buffs will recognize July 20 as the date when Apollo 11 landed on the moon; 2022 marks the 53rd anniversary of the event and we have no idea if Honda has something moon-related in store. A new-car debut certainly doesn’t compare to humankind’s first steps on another world, but this will almost certainly be the last high-revving Type R before electrification takes over. It’s certainly a special occasion in the automotive realm.
What can we expect when the covers finally come off? The new Civic Type R will remain a front-wheel-drive machine, confirmed directly by Honda as it set a FWD track record at Suzuka back in April. Its time was barely a second faster than the previous record-holder, which happened to be the current Civic Type R. As such, we can postulate that the engine won’t see much of a power bump, if any. Sorry folks, rumors of a wild 400-horsepower monster are likely untrue.
Last week, an online leak allegedly revealed five exterior colors for the new Type R. Black, white, grey, red, and blue were listed, but Phoenix Yellow was missing. Could the iconic Type R color be slated for a future special edition model?
As for styling, the standard-issue 11th generation Civic is a conservative evolution from the previous iteration, and we expect a similar design flavor for the Type R. Big vents in the front fascia and a bigger wing at the back are still in store, as we can see that much from camouflaged prototypes. Based on our sightings, we created a rendering of how the final car could look and it is indeed toned down versus its predecessor.