All-Electric Power In the Type R? Honda Won’t Rule It Out
MotorTrend reports that Honda is keeping an open mind to producing an electric Civic Type R.
We all know and love the Civic Type R. There’s a name associated with the Type R you should know, and it is Hideki Kakinuma. Why? Because he leads the Type R project and its development. Kakinuma spoke to MotorTrend recently and revealed something very interesting. Honda remains open to the idea of having an all-electric Type R in the future. While that might come as a bit of a surprise to some, industry trends have us pondering what an EV performance Civic would look like.
So where does all of this stem from? It comes from a shake-up in the Type R manufacturing process. Currently, Honda makes the Type R engine in Swindon, England. This plant also produces the Civic hatch, but the production of that car will move to the US or Japan. The Type R‘s components share a lot with the Accord 4-cylinder, and the production of those components happens here in the US.
If all of this news is getting you worried about Honda distancing themselves from their legendary engines, worry not. Kakinuma gives us some good news, as he says any EV would need to provide the same level of excitement that an internal combustion engine would offer. That’s good news considering the amount of us who buy a Civic and immediately change components on the engine. That sense of drawing out power just isn’t present on an EV. Besides, it would have to compete with other performance EVs and right now, all of those vehicles are currently made by Porsche or Tesla. There is no bargain hot EV at current.
Honda still has some unfinished business with this generation Type R, so you won’t see EV power in the 10th generation Civic. Kakinuma tells MotorTrend “I personally believe that we can go beyond this level with a front-drive configuration. If I continue to work on Civic Type R, it will be to even further improve the performance.” This, of course, comes after the news of a new, hotter, Limited Edition Type R.
So what do our members think? Is a Type R Worth it if the car is faster, bus sacrifices some of the appeal of an internal combustion motor?
Photos: MotorTrend
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