2023 was a banner year for Honda’s hybrid lineup. Despite the brand’s only hybrid offerings being the Accord sedan and CR-V crossover, hybrids made up 25 percent of Honda’s total sales for the year, and those hybrid variants were more than 50 percent of each model’s individual sales totals. To capitalize on that momentum Honda will be releasing a new Civic hybrid this summer, the first photos of which were just released.
This marks the first Civic hybrid sold in the U.S. since the ninth-generation sedan exited production in 2015, unless you count the Civic-based Insight sedan that was sold from 2018 to 2022. The new Civic hybrid will be offered with both the sedan and hatchback body styles, which is awesome, and the pictured car is a Civic sedan in the top-end Sport Touring trim, so the hybrid won’t be relegated to base model status.
The Civic hybrid has a new front end with a larger grille that has a hexagonal mesh pattern, a bigger and more angular lower opening, and slimmer vertical intakes at the bumper corners. There will be new wheel designs, and while we can’t see the rear bumper it probably has been tweaked as well. The lights seem to be identical to the current Civic.
In terms of powertrain, the American Civic hybrid should have the same setup as the Civic e:HEV that’s already available in Europe and Asia, which is also used in the Accord hybrid. It pairs a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter inline-4 with two electric motors and a 1-kWh battery pack. The European Civic e:HEV puts out 181 horsepower, but the Accord hybrid has 204 hp; hopefully the U.S. Civic hybrid gets the more powerful tune.
In addition to the launch of the hybrid models, Honda says the 2025 Civic lineup will get other styling and feature enhancements, but it’s currently unclear whether the revised bumpers of the hybrid will be brought to the rest of the lineup. Expect improvements to the Civic’s infotainment system, some newly available features and potentially some powertrain changes. (Fingers crossed that the Civic Si will finally get heated seats.)
Honda says the Civic hybrid will go on sale in the summer, with a full reveal likely to happen within the next few months. Updates to the other Civics should debut at the same time. In addition to the Civic hybrid, 2024 will see the debut of a second facelift for the Odyssey minivan, the launch of the hydrogen-powered CR-V and the first sales of the electric Prologue SUV. In a virtual presentation talking about Honda’s various announcements and plans for the year, the company also showed a preview sketch of the next-gen Passport, which will have a boxier design and be the brand’s most rugged SUV ever when it also gets revealed in 2024.