Consumers waited over 20 years for the Honda Civic Type-R to finally make its way over to the U.S. after initially making its way to Europe and Japan. Last week was the first week they could pick up the powerful 306-horsepower hatchback Civic. But before customers could make their way over to see the new Type-Rs, news that a possible upgraded versions may be in the pipeline was revealed by a high ranking engineer.
According to Automotive News, Honda Civic chief engineer Hideki Matsumoto opened up about the future of the Type-R and possible expanded variants of the powerful car.
“We’re hoping that by gradually putting out more [variants] that we’ll be able to maintain a more stable sales volume,” Matsumoto said.
Currently, only one version of the Civic Type-R is available—the Touring model. Its MRSP comes in at $33,900 but that sum rises to $34,775 with the $875 destination charge. In Europe and Japan, where the Type-R has been available for two-plus decades, there are multiple variants with different features. Matsumoto is most likely referring to these other options that are available elsewhere that give potential customers more choices in purchasing a Civic Type-R.
Another feature a different tier Type-R could include is all-wheel drive. The current Type-R model only comes with front-wheel drive. That’s a notable omission given that every other powerful car in the mid-$30,000 range like the VW Golf R, Subaru WRX STi and Ford Focus RS comes equipped with some form of all-wheel drive. Any car aficionado will be glad to hear an all-wheel-drive Type-R is arriving soon.
Right now, available units of the Civic type-R are so scarce, some dealers are marking the units they have upwards of $10,000. That doesn’t bode well for sales of the Type-R.
Many more versions and units of the Honda Civic Type-R would surely be appreciated by customers.
