Honda has been stealing the limelight lately, launching Japan’s hottest and most talked about sports car with the all-new Civic Type R and the production NSX at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show.
Speaking of sport cars, news from inside Honda’s R&D centre in Tochigi prefecture north of Tokyo has it that the Honda CR-Z (current model pictured above) will also receive an all-new generation in two years.
As mentioned in our previous post, Honda dropped the current-gen CR-Z from Europe last year and they also withdrew it at the beginning of the year from Australia. It’s still available in Malaysia but ever since the hybrid incentives were lifted locally, the CR-Z saw a whopping price increase to RM183,000.
While the current CR-Z is based on a modified Jazz platform, the new model is expected to use the platform from the next generation Civic, but with a 100mm shorter wheelbase. It will likely end up being dimensionally bigger than the outgoing CR-Z model and should adopt a design influenced by the Civic Type R and NSX.
Power will likely come from a de-tuned version of the Civic Type R’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine which in this new application should deliver somewhere in the region of 286hp. The JDM variant is likely to get a hybrid powertrain encompassing a 1.5-litre petrol engine, an electric motor and an eight-speed automatic transmission. Output of this version is estimated at 201hp although nothing is official at this point.
You can expect to see a Honda CR-Z prototype surface at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show, before sales begin in early 2018. Stay tuned!
Source: motoring.com.au
