After it was first unveiled with the awesome model lineage camouflage back in October, the 2022 Honda Civic Type R based on the 11th generation Honda Civic hatchback has been brought back to Japan after a stint at the Nurburgring for further development work and more.
The team has based themselves at Suzuka Circuit, the Honda-owned, highly-technical world-renowned figure-of-eight track. Apart from additional testing and validation work, the team could be setting their sights to beating the existing lap record time of 2:23.99 published back in July 2020 with the time-attack prepared FK8 Honda Civic Type R Limited Edition.
As usual, nothing else has been shared on the development of the 2022 Honda Civic Type R, which is said to be Honda’s final internal combustion engine model in Europe. While the model has its dynamism polished and sharpened in Europe, which the technical team in Offenbach, Germany has done a particularly great job with the current generation, the next-generation hot-hatch could be manufactured in the USA.
REVIEW: FK8 Honda Civic Type R vs. its predecessor
Honda has closed and sold the Swindon plant in the UK which made generations of Civic Type R hatchbacks (EP3, FN2, FK2 and FK8) and with that, production of the upcoming Type R is looking to be in the US. Honda USA for the first time is now building the Civic hatchback in Indiana after a USD50 million investment.
While Honda has been actively pushing the introduction of their hybrid e:HEV technology in mainstream models, the upcoming Civic Type R is expected to continue with the proven 2.0-litre VTEC TURBO engine. Outputs are expected to remain the same, in the region of 320 hp and 400 Nm and paired with a slick-shifting six-speed manual transmission.
However, Honda seems to have gone to the Michelin camp for tyres, as the development model is shown to be fitted with Pilot Sport 4 S tyres, replacing the Continental Sport Contact 6 that was fitted in the 2017 model.
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