This year is looking like the year of the hybrid, and Honda just upped its ante. After a decade in purgatory, the Civic Hybrid is returning to North American showrooms, and Honda just recently shared a handful of photographs and a couple more details about this electrified compact. On first glance, it all seems incredibly promising.
Come the 2025 model year, the eleventh-generation Civic will have been on sale for four model years. This means the requisite mid-life refresh is happening, starting with a substantially larger and largely functional upper grille set in a new body-colored bezel. Beneath that sits a larger but largely fake lower grille, although Honda has eliminated the optional bumper-mounted fog lights and their large trim pieces in favor of Civic Type R-inspired air curtains. The result is a sleeker, cleaner front end that looks less beluga-like. I’d call that a win.
Speaking of wins, check out the new seven-spoke wheels on this fully-loaded trim. They’re clean, intriguing without being excessively fussy, and do a decent job of visually filling the arches. To all other automakers: Learn from this. Also, Pirelli PZeros on a regular Civic is an intriguingly sporting choice compared to the Goodyear Eagle Sport All-Season tires on the current Touring trim.
Honda’s given a rather limited view of the Civic’s rear end, but there is one big bit of information to glean. The Sport Touring trim is no longer a hatchback-only proposition, as its badging is clearly visible on this sedan. We don’t yet know what this means for the manual-only, LSD-equipped Si trim, but this is a sign Honda’s expanding the core of the Civic’s model range upwards. Otherwise, the taillights and trunk lid appear to be carryover items, and the rear retroreflectors are still set fairly high in the bumper cover. Don’t expect a dramatically different rear end here. It’s also worth noting that the Civic Hybrid will also be available as a hatchback, a significant advantage over the Toyota Corolla Hybrid and Hyundai Elantra Hybrid.
As for hybrid powertrain details, they’re still relatively light. Honda hasn’t confirmed output figures, but in a prior media release, the brand made the following statement:
The 2025 Civic Hybrid will be powered by a version of the award-winning Honda two-motor hybrid-electric system. Offering improved responsiveness for a sportier driving feel, it creates a more relaxed driving environment at highway speeds while improving fuel economy. This powerplant has already received significant global accolades including a recent Wards 10 Best Engines and Propulsion Systems award for the 2023 Honda Accord Hybrid.
Considering that the upcoming Civic Hybrid will be built at the marque’s Alliston plant, the same complex that builds the CR-V Hybrid, and taking into account both Honda’s statement and the rest-of-world Civic Hybrid, it’s safe to assume that a two-liter four-cylinder engine will reside under the hood. This powertrain would give the Civic Hybrid some meaningful pep, so let’s patiently twiddle our thumbs as we wait to see what’s behind the curtain.
The Honda Civic Hybrid should not be a rarity in the wild. Honda expects 40 percent of 2025 Civics to be hybrids, which is a huge number. Two in every five off the dealer lot should be electrified, and planning for that means plenty of production allocation. Expect pricing and trim level details to be announced closer to the car’s on-sale date this summer. Given Honda’s product strategy of confining its hybrid powertrains to higher trim levels on the Accord and CR-V, it’s a fair assumption to expect similar structure on the Civic. Could this hybrid powertrain largely replace the 1.5-liter turbocharged four-banger that developed a reputation for oil dilution? We’ll have to wait and see.
(Photo credits: Honda)
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Anyone know if there’s maybe a PHEV model coming 2025/2026 perhaps?
I’m shopping for a gen 2 Volt right now, but a PHEV Civic would make me slow my roll and save a few more dollars to wait.
We need more PHEVs. I have a 2019 Ridgeline and would love to see a version with a PHEV. Would make it perfect. Not sure it will ever happen though.
Shop for a PHEV Clarity while you’re at it. It’s much better than the Volt, and bigger than the Civic.
But the person posting above likely has eyes which rules out the hideous looking Clarity.
These last few Civic models have been looking better and better. Honda is smart to add the “sport” trim to the Accord and Civic. Making cars look better, even if taking away a little sport from the engine, adding in mpgs is a good tradeoff on a commuter car.
You’re allowed to be wrong. I didn’t like the Clarity much at first, but I’m still getting compliments about it on a more or less weekly basis that I never got about my Accord. I’m starting to prefer risky designs a lot more than I used to.
And from the driver’s seat, the Clarity PHEV would probably be the best Honda touring car ever made, if it had a slightly larger fuel tank. So even if it does look bad, it’s more than worth the trade. Especially once you know it’s mostly aluminum, so it’s not going to rot away like most cars.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I DID NOT know that it was mostly aluminum! They’re dirt cheap too! That sounds like an excellent daily driver bargain!
Yep. I was interested in them, but as soon as I saw their body shop repair guide that shows what each section of the body and frame are made of, I knew I was going to buy one. It’s easily the best daily driver I’ve ever owned.
Unfortunately I doubt a PHEV is coming soon. Honda already uses quite a lot of batteries for just it’s current hybrids (~600,000kWh, or 8-10k EVs worth), and the new Civic hybrid will probably use another ~80,000kWh (assuming they maintain 200k units/year and hit their 40% hybrid target). Even excluding the upcoming Prologue, that’s a fairly big battery contract. For scale, a theoretical Civic PHEV with a modest 10kWh battery would take 200,000kWh with just 20k units sold.
It would also likely be tough to package the PHEV battery in a smaller car.
Seems unlikely. In the same news piece that they announced the Civic facelift, there were mentions of future product changes and updates over the next year or so. Among them was a a fuel-cell CR-V, but no mention of any PHEVs to be shown for future sale or anything.
Good, more competition for Toyota, and its a hatch.
Now do the Odyssey and Pilot.
And the red-headed stepchild, the RIdgeline. I love mine but would love it more as a PHEV.
Yes, a Ridge that gets decent gas mileage would be something I’d consider as well.
What size are those wheels? 18″? 20″?
It’s absurd to see gigantic very open-spoke wheels and performance rubber band tires on the version of the Civic that’s supposed to get better gas mileage than the standard version. Just putting intelligent wheels and tires on it would add 1-2 mpg or more, meanwhile manufacturers are moving to 0w16 oil to save 0.002 mpg.
Manufacturers leave a surprising amount of efficiency on the table in the name of questionably good looking styling. Next time somebody asks, “do you really think manufacturers are doing things that leave fuel economy on the table” or “do you really think you could engineer a more efficient car than Honda could” the answer is yes.
While I’m no fan of now almost default low profile tires, you say that like this will be the only version, which is unlikely. They haven’t announced any specs, just that there’s a hybrid and a facelift, so naturally they show the flashier top trim, which already has 18″ wheels.
Efficiency alone isn’t enough to sell hybrids. This is why you see more of an emphasis on their performance capabilities, and why Honda tacks ‘sport’ badging on so many of their hybrids. But they have variants with the same size tires (most CR-Vs except the top trim) or a variant without the big wheels (Accord) too. Still a big increase to efficiency, usually without a compromise in performance or even an improvement depending what vehicle it replaces.
Not that this is the only version, that there is such a thing as a hybrid that sacrifices a significant amount of efficiency for nothing.
Efficiency alone isn’t enough to sell hybrids? If that’s true, then it must not be a very good hybrid, considering that efficiency is the sole and exclusive reason the hybrid exists. If the hybrid has significantly more power than the non hybrid then either the hybrid is overpowered or the regular one is underpowered.
If it weren’t true they would have proliferated much sooner than they have, but people didn’t care enough to make the leap to a hybrid before. Why do they care now? They still may not actually – but hybrids have been mainstreamed more so there’s no real tradeoff with most of them, even as several models have moved to majority/only hybrid, Hondas included. Which has the potential for buyer backlash, but the CR-V had its best sales year last year since before the pandemic and isn’t far off from exceeding those years either.
Your “nothing” may not be that way to a new vehicle buyer, which is who Honda needs to sell a car to. If a buyer wants the benefits of a hybrid but still wants what they perceive as added style, or the handling benefit or what-have-you, why shouldn’t Honda offer that? And in this case we’re talking about Honda which is actually quite good at limiting buyer choices with their trim structures.
For the customer, they’re getting a healthy improvement to fuel economy, and possibly performance too. Let’s say goes from a typical 10 year old Civic on a new Accord hybrid with the big wheels – it’s a 33% improvement in MPG (33 combined vs. 44) despite being a considerably roomier car.
Just because it may not “need” to be as quick as it is doesn’t mean there’s actually a benefit from the manufacturer putting in the effort to throttle it back, and a less powerful car doesn’t automatically equate to a dramatic efficiency gain either. In the case of the Accord and CR-V, the hybrid makes about the same horsepower as the nonhybrid variant, so your absolute about under/overpowered isn’t applicable. But as I recall you aren’t particularly keen on hybrids anyway.
“several models have moved to majority/only hybrid, Hondas included. Which has the potential for buyer backlash”
Because the manufacturers are trying to sell something to buyers that the buyers don’t want? I maintain that if a hybrid is good enough to be worth it, efficiency would be enough to sell it. If the hybrid is not efficient enough that buyers think it’s worth it, then making it less efficient doesn’t seem like a good answer to the problem. Maybe Honda is just stupid?
I’m not particularly keen on hybrids, you’re right. Although that doesn’t compare to the burning hatred I have for oversize rims.
If Honda went all-out on the drag reduction, by going to smooth wheel covers, deleting the fake grille and purely ornamental trim pieces, adding rear wheel skirts, further rounded the front and further tapered the rear of the car for reduced drag, had flush side skirts on the bottom of the car, and achieved a Cd value around 0.16 or so, they could have this same powertrain allowing the car to approach 80 mpg highway, for little or no additional manufacturing cost, without the operator or passengers giving up ANYTHING.
I think that would do a lot to help sell more of them, because they would be emphasizing the hybrid’s biggest strength and selling point.
Consider this 85 mpg highway ecomodded 90s-era Honda Civic as a real-world indicator of what is possible:
https://aerocivic.com/
I had a feeling I was summoning the one and only Toecutter with my comments about manufacturers leaving efficiency on the table for no reason.
I agree, the OG Honda Insight needs to return.
You cut off the rest of that sentence where I said sales are up. If buyers actively didn’t want it, they’d be seeing sales declines, certainly for the CR-V where there are plenty of competitors they could switch to. The CR-V hybrid was the best selling hybrid of any segment in 2023, and the hybrid Accord the best-selling hybrid car – so maybe they aren’t stupid? (Not bad considering they’re more expensive than the comparable hybrid Toyota.)
I tend to think most buyers are indifferent to it, or really, what powers their car in general. They aren’t going to pay much extra for it or not only that, unless gas prices shot up – otherwise it’s not so top of mind. And that price gap is pretty nil now on most hybrids nowadays as discussed here recently. Or in some cases some of the hybrid-only trims had only the same increase over the equivalent nonhybrid trim of the prior gen as other models – ex. an Accord EX-L is hybrid only and about $2k more than a 2022 EX-L nonhybrid, or about the same increase as the 2024 Civic had over a 2022 without any changes.
I did some wind tunnel design work on an EV aero wheel, and without the styling constraints (and not even much of a deviation from their sacred a-class surface) it would have been significantly less draggy. With them it was barely an improvement on the standard wheel, but it did get the range up to the next significant number, which was a marketing target.
Wow, and I can’t remember seeing a single one. I’m sure I did, but it’s so bland looking that it made no impression whatsoever.
I’ve seen a few, but honestly I notice a ton more late 90s Civics still chugging around.
It looks good and it’ll make for a great commuter car. I’ll be interested to see where Honda takes the Sport Hybrid trim moving forward. Most sporty times across their lineup are now hybrid-only and if I’m not mistake their hybrids are slightly better performers than their pure ICE counterparts.
…maybe we’ll get an actual performance hybrid at some point? That would be cool. Anyway we’re pretty set on a CRV Sport Hybrid as my wife’s next car. I cannot overstate how nice the new CRV is for what it is. Obviously it’s still an appliance but the interior is exceptional for the price point.
I have to agree. The last couple of generations of CRV have been “fine” (I liked the Volvo-esque taillights), but they never had any of the excitement that the Civic brought. But the new generation is super nice, it has actual presence. This doesn’t really come through in photos, but in person I can see that the styling tweaks, while fairly modest, are cohesive. That’s what the prior generations were lacking. Ironically, the current Civic design went the other way (yawn), but this new update looks to improve things.
I think the HRV redesign is even more impressive when you consider what it is replacing. (But I would never buy one because I want a car that can get out of its own way.)
An hrv does 0-60 in under 10, which is faster than any economy car needs to be.
I live in Los Angeles and occasionally need to use the 110 freeway north of Downtown, which has 40′ onramps that lead directly into full-speed traffic. A slow car may be perfectly fine in some places, but not in this city. Besides, there are other cars in the HRV’s class that are economical yet still quicker.
I can understand that, but 9.5 seconds is objectively not slow, and Jason has talked several times about driving his cars around LA without issue, and none of his cars can do 0-60 under 15 seconds.
Kind of funny because a couple weeks ago I talked to somebody here in Autopian comments who had never seen a somewhat short on ramp and seemed to think that nobody ever drove 0-60 flat out in the real world.
*sighs in Northeast US parkway* Haven’t seen a thing unless you have been on a Robert Moses designed parkway with integrated on/off ramps. Or even worse, the Merritt.
And all we hear are that cars don’t have enough power to merge onto interstates. Please… Interstates are easy.
Or my favorite on-ramp on 79th St. in Manhattan onto the West Side Highway where there’s a blind rise on the highway and there’s a stop sign at the end of on ramp so you have to do a standing start a couple of feet before you’re in traffic. Big fun in a Mercedes 240 diesel, at least it had a manual so you could rev the engine for a full second before dropping the clutch. 0 to 5 mph it was pretty darn good, but then. …
Right, Honda is smart to make the former class dork of a car, the hybrid, and make it look desirable. I would gladly give up 1-3 mpg for a better looking car. If I walked into the dealership and one was lame looking like typical hybrid of the past vs the sporty look like on this Civic (or Accord), let’s say 48 mpg vs 51 mpg, I would absolutely go for the 48mpg sporty looking one over the 51 mpg version. While a 3 mpg improvement would be nice, the 48mpg would still be probably 2x as good as whatever car/small suv traded in for one that an extra 3 mpg is just not significant enough to worry about.
The SI is built at the Honda plant in Canada. When I got mine in 2018, that plant didn’t make hatchback Civics, those were made in England. If that split is still true, you can rule out a hatchback SI.
The hatches are currently built in Ohio for the 11th gen AFAIK. So is the 1.5T engine (which were previously shipped to the UK for the 10th gen hatchbacks). Last I checked, Alliston only built 2.0 NA engines (which makes sense if they’ve got the hybrid production – and the bulk of the non-hatch Civics).
The hatches might hail from Indiana but not sure if that’s still the case? But doesn’t change what you said and to add to that – that’s why all Civic hatches were 1.5Ts in the old gen, when lower Civic sedans here used the 2.0L, as they didn’t ship the 2.0s over for production there.
The Alliston plant is to stop producing ICE engines this year actually which has led some to question the future of the 2.0L, but they are still produced in Mexico I believe. The HR-V uses that motor too, but it’s also produced in Mexico.
Honda Swindon (UK) was closed, thanks to Brexit.
It’s a shame the SI Civic is only available as a 4 door. I want a swb FWD car with a manual and a LSD.
Sadly you’ve got to pay for the CTR or Integra at that point.
Agreed, for the life of me I can’t understand why Honda offers the Si as the sedan only but the R and Type S as hatchback only.
They aren’t actually that small though. I’m not complaining because it isn’t a big CUV, but I really wish they had an offering in the size and form factor of the 5th gen.
Hard Agree! The Civic has inflated to be massive, accord sized, which is cool if you just wanted a cheap big car for the suburbs and highways. But as a city car it’s kinda done.
I expect the regular Touring will disappear on the sedan so it will just be Sport Touring at the top, and that will be hybrid only for both sedan and hatch. It remains to be seen the lower trims though. The Sport hybrid CR-V is positioned more like an EX with an appearance package, while the Sport on the Civic has always been a step below the EX in equipment (and Accord somewhere between the two). Could have both gas and hybrid Sports, or an EX/EX-L hybrid. Either way, if you want leather on an Accord or CR-V you have to go hybrid, so I expect that much to be true on the Civic too.
Given Civic pricing, I expect the sedan Civic hybrid will be pricier than the Corolla hybrid, and the hatchback probably closer to Prius pricing. However the Civic is a much roomier vehicle than the new Prius so it will likely have broader appeal.
I’ve seen more chatter wondering what may happen to the base 2.0L given some of the supplier/production changes they’ve been making. The 1.5T still lives on in the platform and they’ve introduced a Civic RS prototype in Japan that basically seems to mimic an Si hatch. I don’t foresee the Si going anywhere yet but won’t be surprised to see MT options pared down or changed – currently Si sedan, Sport (2.0L) hatch, and Sport Touring (1.5T) hatch. Have to think the 2.0L/MT goes away.
Also – while Toyota sold more RAV4s and Camrys as a whole vs. their Honda competitors, it’s interesting to note that Honda had the best-selling hybrid vehicles in the U.S. in the CR-V and Accord in 2023. Toyota will no doubt fight to get those titles back as they move to hybrid-only for those lines but a nice line for Honda to tout right now.
For a conservatively estimated 99.9999999% of Civic hybrid owners, it’s a terrible choice. I’ve ranted for years about unnecessary sportiness and firmness built into “regular” vehicles, and this is one of the more egregious examples I’ve seen. You know what else came standard with PZeros? The Dodge Viper. You know how long they last? About 10,000 miles if you’re lucky.
I promise it’s fine if some cars are allowed to leave the factory on high profile, long lasting and quiet all-season tires!
Not all PZero’s are Viper spec, but still a terrible choice.
I assume even the tamer specs are useless if not dangerous in winter, prioritize at-the-limit handling over virtually anything else, and have poor durability.
I’m happy with Continental EcoContacts. They’re quiet even after a few years, they get great gas mileage and have plenty of grip for 3 season commuting duty. They II set a lot longer than 10k too.
I’m actually surprised more cars aren’t leaving the factory with All-Weather tires considering how prevalent they seem to be nowadays – leaves little reason to get All-Season if you might possibly drive anywhere that might get snow, and not really compromise on the dry/summer side of it compared to most OEM shoes.
Seeing there are Nexen tires coming OE on cars now, performance isn’t at the top of their list when spec’ing the car.
My Kona N came with P Zeros and you know what?
…I hated them. Unless you’re doing solely track/canyon/etc. driving in warm weather they’re terrible. They have lousy grip when it’s wet. Under about 70 degrees they turn into absolute bricks. They’re loud, they ride rough, and like you said, they don’t last.
I had Goodyear Eagle Exhilarate all season performance tires put on 3,000 miles after I took delivery of the car and the tech pulled me aside to tell me how shocked he was at the condition of the Pirellis and that he couldn’t believe there were only 3,000 miles on them. One of them had bubbled in the few days leading up to getting them swapped out too.
Sorry to rant, I just fucking hate P Zeros. They’re a very good tire for one specific thing and they’re absolute ass at everything else. I MIGHT consider them on a pure track car but even at that point I’d probably go with Michelin Pilot Sports or something from Continental over them.
Same rants. The cars they put these on still often handle like shit and have no driver feedback, anyway, it’s just that the tires hide the chassis faults beyond what most people will reach. In exchange, the people who aren’t interested in driving hard get short-life tires that suck most of the time, ride poorly all of the time, are more susceptible to blow outs and bent rims because they’re always married to oversized wheels, and wear out suspension components sooner. (Same rant goes for suspension tuning—a crossover or midsize sedan doesn’t need a harsh suspension that can set a respectable Nurburgring time.) I don’t even like outright performance tires on low end performance cars. I don’t go on a track, so I like something that lasts longer, is more versatile, and playful. Plus, HP AS tires today have gotten really damn good. I switched from HP summers to the HP AS versions and got 90% of the grip with 2.5 times the lifespan, a better ride unfazed by most weather and temps, and more neutral handling.
This looks great. These kinds of powertrains are exactly what I was hoping would happen with increased hybridization. It allows manufacturers to dispense with turbocharging which is problematic long-term but still hit efficiency and power numbers.
I really wish Honda would stop with the hood brow above the grille, it is not an attractive styling trait.
Agreed but it may be required to meet European passenger impact regulations.
It can be done/meet the requirements in a much more elegant way, since other manufacturers dont have it.
It reminds me of this football helmet.
TIL football helmets cost $1000 …
Most of that is probably in the titanium face mask