Honda Spills Beans on Future Product, Shows Civic Hybrid

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

Looking ahead to the 2024 calendar year, Honda has laid out some of its plans for the forthcoming 12 months. While we’re sure they’ve still a few things up their sleeve (after all, the phrase “We can’t comment on future product” is a PR mainstay), the news does give us a good idea as to what’s in store – plus a shot of the 2025 Civic Hybrid.

Let’s start with that model, a trim which is sure to pad sales numbers in Honda showrooms as it continues its long-running battle with the Toyota Corolla, a car which has been offering hybrid power for some spell. Right off the bat, Honda is expecting big things from the Civic Hybrid, stating they feel the trim will comprise a full 40 percent of the models' sales when it launches this summer. 


For all you number nerds (*raises hand*), Honda shifted 200,381 new Civics in America last year, meaning they’ll need to sell about 80,000 of the things to meet their goal. In comparison, Toyota sold 232,370 Corollas - not counting the Cross - through calendar year 2023, of which 47,990 were hybrids. That’s just over 20 percent.


It is certainly possible that Honda will build to this target of 40 percent and force demand; after all, Civics tend to sell no matter what’s on the ground. Also, the hybrid powertrain is promised in both sedan and hatchback body styles, so that’ll help. We’ll be sure to keep an eye on this metric as the calendar flips through 2024. The entire Civic lineup gets styling tweaks for the ’25 model year, presumably like the ones shown in that hero shot above.

Elsewhere in the showroom, the Prologue is scheduled to land in the coming months, the Odyssey minivan is due for some tweaks, and a fuel cell CR-V is in the works for certain markets. Acura customers will find freshened MDX and RDX crossovers whilst shopping, along with the ZDX variant of that Prologue EV. 


Buried in the bumf is a line saying that a new Acura crossover will also debut later this year, positioned at the lineup’s gateway alongside the Integra. Any bets they’ll call it the IDX? Unless, of course, VW’s bloodthirsty yet bedwetting lawyers cry foul, in which case it may be called the ADX.


[Images: Honda]


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Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Jalop1991 Jalop1991 on Jan 18, 2024

    Does Honda have the software team all ready to re-do the firmware so it disables the battery to save on warranty costs?


    Ford is anxiously awaiting the answer to that.

  • RHD RHD on Jan 21, 2024

    A hybrid with a 6-speed manual. Now we're talking!

  • MaintenanceCosts There's not a lot of meat to this (or to an argument in the opposite direction) without some data comparing the respective frequency of "good" activations that prevent a collision and false alarms. The studies I see show between 25% and 40% reduction in rear-end crashes where AEB is installed, so we have one side of that equation, but there doesn't seem to be much if any data out there on the frequency of false activations, especially false activations that cause a collision.
  • Zerocred Automatic emergency braking scared the hell out of me. I was coming up on a line of stopped cars that the Jeep (Grand Cherokee) thought was too fast and it blared out an incredibly loud warbling sound while applying the brakes. I had the car under control and wasn’t in danger of hitting anything. It was one of those ‘wtf just happened’ moments.I like adaptive cruise control, the backup camera and the warning about approaching emergency vehicles. I’m ambivalent  about rear cross traffic alert and all the different tones if it thinks I’m too close to anything. I turned off lane keep assist, auto start-stop, emergency backup stop. The Jeep also has automatic parking (parallel and back in), which I’ve never used.
  • MaintenanceCosts Mandatory speed limiters.Flame away - I'm well aware this is the most unpopular opinion on the internet - but the overwhelming majority of the driving population has not proven itself even close to capable of managing unlimited vehicles, and it's time to start dealing with it.Three important mitigations have to be in place:(1) They give 10 mph grace on non-limited-access roads and 15-20 on limited-access roads. The goal is not exact compliance but stopping extreme speeding.(2) They work entirely locally, except for downloading speed limit data for large map segments (too large to identify with any precision where the driver is). Neither location nor speed data is ever uploaded.(3) They don't enforce on private property, only on public roadways. Race your track cars to your heart's content.
  • GIJOOOE Anyone who thinks that sleazbag used car dealers no longer exist in America has obviously never been in the military. Doesn’t matter what branch nor assigned duty station, just drive within a few miles of a military base and you’ll see more sleazbags selling used cars than you can imagine. So glad I never fell for their scams, but there are literally tens of thousands of soldiers/sailors/Marines/airmen who have been sold a pos car on a 25% interest rate.
  • 28-Cars-Later What happened to the $1.1 million pounds?I saw an interview once I believe with Salvatore "the Bull" Gravano (but it may have been someone else) where he was asked what happened to all the money while he was imprisoned. Whomever it was blurted out something to the effect of "oh you keep the money, the Feds are just trying to put you away". Not up on criminal justice but AFAIK the FBI will seize money as part of an arrest/investigation but it seems they don't take you to the cleaners when they know you're a mobster (or maybe as part of becoming a rat they turn a blind eye?). I could really see this, because whatever agency comes after it has to build a case and then presumably fight defense counsel and it might not be worth it. I wonder if that's the case here?
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