The highly-awaited Honda Civic Type R has just been unveiled at the 2022 Vietnam Motor Show, marking the debut of the performance model in the region ahead of Malaysia and Thailand. The Vietnamese launch comes just three months after the model has officially gone on sale in Japan.
The Honda Civic Type R will be offered in Vietnam in “limited quantities”, with deliveries scheduled to begin by the second quarter of 2023. While pricing for the Type R in Vietnam is not officially available just yet, it is estimated to run around USD100,000 (approx. RM474k), making it certainly an expensive endeavour – which looks especially bad with our weakening Malaysian Ringgit.
The sixth-generation Honda Civic Type R is powered by a revamped K20C1 2.0-litre turbocharged inline-four engine, making 315 hp and 420 Nm. Power is sent to the front wheels as always via a six-speed manual transmission and a helical-type limited-slip differential.
Despite its (relatively) subdued looks, Honda says most of the exterior body panels are specifically designed for the Civic Type R, with aerodynamic appendages to increase downforce and cooling, while the fenders are also widened to accommodate the wider tracks on the Type R.
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Will the Vietnamese pricing be translated to our Ringgit when the Honda Civic Type R launches here in Malaysia? Considering that Vietnam also imposes a fairly heavy tax on imported vehicles, we’d expect our Malaysian pricing to not stray too far off from what our neighbours have.
At RM470k, that’s almost a 50% increase in price over the previous-generation model here in Malaysia. Keep in mind that the number is exaggerated by our weak Malaysian Ringgit currently, but even with a stronger currency, it’s still quite a sizeable hike.
With Honda only building 400 units of the Civic Type R per month, though, it’s going to be a long wait either way before anyone gets their cars, so hopefully the Ringgit would have recovered a little bit by then…
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