New Honda Civic Type R Concept Looks Ready to Win

For some reason, the new Honda Civic Type R Concept wasn’t one of the cars we were excited to see at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show. Perhaps it’s because we’d already seen an initial prototype at the Tokyo Motor Show … Perhaps it’s because we didn’t imagine Honda’s hot hatch outshining the likes of the new Toyota Aygo. Either way, we were wrong – the new Honda Civic Type R Concept is astonishingly alluring, both mechanically and aesthetically.

As you can see, the Civic Type R Concept features an extremely aggressive styling, but its purpose is more than just looking good. According to Honda, this new concept fully represents their racing spirit, and as such it has been developed from the ground up with performance in mind. Every single detail – the enormous grille, the prominent front and rear vents, the quad exhaust, the extra wide finders, the 20-inch wheels – serves the purpose of speed.

According to Honda, “When combined, these features deliver maximum cooling, greater grip and ultimately, optimum performance.” Honda’s eventual goal with their Civic Type R is to claim the fastest lap time at the Nürburgring race track for front-wheel drive vehicles. It’s a record currently held by the Seat Leon Cupra with a lap time of 7:58:44. That’s going to be a tough time to beat!

But, Honda’s performance-oriented hot hatch won’t just be a track car… In Honda’s own words, it’s NOT a high-performance road car; it’s a racing car for the road. They’re taking a different approach from most other automakers that take their normal road cars and try to beef them up into racing models. According to the Civic Type R’s chief stylist, Honda developed the Type R for the sort of customer who has a passion for driving and a love for sports cars.

Obviously, the Honda Civic Type R looks impressive, and we’re sure that it’s highly aerodynamic. But, what about the powertrain?

Well, we don’t know everything, but we do know that the engine itself will be a brand-new VTEC TURBO with Earth Dreams Technology. More specifically, it’ll be 2.0L with “class-leading output of at least 280PS”, which is roughly 276hp, the exact same output as the record-holding Leon Cupra. Not sure how that will be “class-leading” then ….

To be honest, the still images don’t do justice to the incredible aesthetic of the new Honda Civic Type R Concept. So, if you’d like to see more, just check out the video below:

We’re sure that we will see the Honda Civic Type R take to the track sometime between now and commercial production, but no specific details have been announced. However, we do know that the production Civic Type R will debut in Europe sometime during 2015. Whether it’ll be at the end of the year as a 2016MY or at the beginning of the year as a 2015MY remains to be seen. Until then, you’ll just have to do your best to keep your jaw attached to your face.