Honda to launch new Civic at Frankfurt Motor Show

2012 Honda Civic Hatchback

Honda will launch the new Civic at the IAA Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Developed specifically for the European market, the Civic will be offered exclusively as a five-door hatchback and will compete in the C-segment. It will reach European showrooms in early 2012.


In the build-up to the reveal of the new Civic, Honda is releasing a series of short form films detailing its development. The first of these focuses on ride & handling.

New Honda Civic : Ride & Handling - Two generations ahead

The ride and handling of the new Honda Civic has been developed in Europe. Working closely with European colleagues and external experts, the Japanese development team analysed the current Civic's performance. This led to a focus on improving the ride quality of the new Civic, while retaining the sporty handling of the current model.

Honda's engineers were conscious that European roads are some of the most varied in the world, mixing fast highways with poorly surfaced country lanes. Initial testing was carried out at the Research and Development facilities in Japan, before the development team transferred to Europe to finalise the car.

"Every time we visited Europe during the development of the car, we achieved significant improvements in the ride and handling, tuning the car for the local demands," says Kazuo Sunaoshi, Development Leader - Chassis. "The new Civic is not just an evolution. In terms of ride quality, we have taken a major step forwards, equivalent to two generations of development."

Torsion beam rear suspension system

The new Civic retains the largest cabin space within the C-segment by utilising the compact torsion beam rear suspension from the current Civic. To further improve body control and stability at high speeds, the wall thickness of the torsion beam and the diameter of the stabiliser bar have been increased. In addition, overall ride comfort and handling have been developed through the introduction of new fluid-filled compliance bushings to the rear suspension system.

Fluid filled compliance bushing

[Source : HONDA]