Honda's issue with the Hatchback

"Manwich - now Keto-Friendly" (manwich) 06/20/2019 at 14:29 • Filed to: None

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Honda seems to have some sort of prejudice against the hatchback body style in North America.

I recently checked their specs... you can get a 205HP SI in sedan and coupe form, but not in the hatch.

The hatch only comes with the 1.5L turbo. And in top trim, it still makes 10HP less than the same engine found in the CRV.

You can’t even get the regular 2L 4cyl.. which Honda does offer in the coupe and sedan.

And i t has the highest base price of the 3 body styles.

And when you look at the Fit, it’s basically what the Honda Civic of the late 1980s and early 1990s was. The Fit would be an awesome candidate for a real Sport or SI model.

But no... the Fit ‘Sport’ gets nothing in the way of performance upgrades.

It’s like Honda North America is afraid to get back into having genuinely sporty hatchbacks... something they were one of the best at in the 1980s and up to the mid 1990s.

Pich, with Z32 now featuring Civic [Si] / No > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 06/20/2019 at 17:28

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they can’ t cannibalize the T ype R

Amoore100 > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 06/20/2019 at 18:58

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The Civic hatch was never meant to be a volume seller in the states; while all other variants are made either in Canada or Indiana, every hatch is shipped from the Swindon plant in the UK. Presumably the demand was much higher than anticipated based on the number that I see on the roads and the seemingly increased popularity of hatches in general so they likely limit the trim specs to simplify the shipping orders and streamline production costs. Swindon’s closing, though, thanks to Brexit, so assuming Honda rolls out the new Civic by 2021 there’s a high chance that’ll be made somewhere stateside, if not simply back to Japan outright.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Amoore100 06/20/2019 at 19:41

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I say they should start building it in the Alliston, Ontario plant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_of_Canada_Manufacturing

SmugAardvark > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 06/20/2019 at 19:47

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Yeah, I would love an Si hatch. But alas, I have given up on seeing one here in the States.

RacinBob > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 06/20/2019 at 20:38

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Do you know what Honda of America hates worse. Manual transmissions.

Other than the Si, the manual is relegated to Sport trim at best. Meanwhile go across the border and you can get the Civic Touring hatch with a stick like the one below.  Oh well.