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Just over a month ago the autoverse was alight with chatter, the newest civic was spotted out and about for the first time. My goodness. Autoguide was first on the scene reporting that the car in question was in fact a 2016 Honda Civic proto out stretching its legs, as per standard operating procedures in the realm of automotive journalism the story was subsequently copied near verbatum to everyone and their mums blog. Case closed right, the experts have said so.
Perhaps thats not quite so...
First off the prototype looks huge, much longer especially than the current Civic. Yes the 2016 Civic is supposed to migrate to a shared modular platform with Accord but as VW has demonstrated they can share platforms between Full size saloons and smaller coupes, I don't think the platform migration necessitates a size increase. What we could be looking at instead is an Accord prototype, the larger wheel gap could be an indication that Honda is testing suspension for a bigger car.
Second, dual exhaust. No Civic ever has had dual exhaust, granted precedent doesn't mean much to the auto industry but twin pipes is relatively superfluous for a small 4 pot (that is unless we're seeing a Turbo Civic something which would explain the hood bulge, but I digress), what Honda sedan does sport twin tips? Accord V6.
Third, styling a shape is a severe departure from conventional Civic styling. Currently they can't build them fast enough, are they really inclined to make such a drastic departure and risk alienating core buyers?
Then again, a completely different train of thought is that this is actually a mule for Honda's ACX Hydrogen
Vehicle as the profile matches renders published in early June. Again the connection is tenuous and certainly does not explain the inclusion of dual exhaust.
Whatever we're looking at I'm not so prepared to believe any more that what we saw a month ago was in fact an early 10th gen prototype. Thoughts?
