2010 New York: Honda debuts the latest version of Canada’s most popular new car

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW YORK – While the Chinese auto show has Shanghai’d (pun intended) plenty of global concept and 2012 production debuts this week, the 2011 New York auto show is delivering a few surprises. The first up is the ninth-generation 2012 Honda Civic family.

A first drive review will appear in Wheels soon enough, but briefly, the new 2012 is more evolutionary than revolutionary. It’s fundamentally the same size and proportions as the 2006 to 2011 version, still available in two-door coupe and four-door sedan form, in regular gas, sporty Si and fuel-efficient Hybrid versions.

The gas non-Si Civic Coupes and Sedans get slightly better fuel economy form a basically carryover 1.8-litre four. They go on sale today. The Si models (which get a larger and more powerful 2.4-litre four) become available next month. And the Hybrid, with new lithium batteries, is supposed to go on sale this summer, but Honda is saying its on-sale date may be pushed off because of the manufacturing crisis in Japan, a fate that is also falling on the Civic-based CR-V crossover, a concept version of which was to be shown here in the Big Apple. Despite this setback, Honda officials are still committed to the 2012 CR-V arriving sometime this fall.