future cars

As of this writing, Honda is rapidly approaching its Formula 1 comeback as the power behind McLaren at the Australian Grand Prix, and the brand is also busy readying two of Japan’s most anticipated sports cars, the new NSX and the 2016 Civic Type R. Now comes news from inside Honda's R&D center in Tochigi that the unloved CR-Z hybrid sports coupe will get a new lease on life in the form of an all-new, more performance-oriented model in three years.

Honda’s American arm has been pleading for a gutsy, attractive, and reasonably priced coupe to bolster its brand image, and a source with close ties to the Japanese mothership says the next CR-Z will be the answer. "Remember the CR-Z? It’s due to make a big comeback in 2017," we’re told.

"The two reasons that forced Honda to phase it out [in Europe and Australia], namely its weak street cred and lack of performance thanks to its ho-hum hybrid power unit, have been addressed. The new coupe will be a force to reckon with," insists our source.

The original model was based on a modified version of the Fit platform, but unlike the Fit, with its centrally located fuel tank, the CR-Z’s tank was repositioned at the rear. To keep costs down, the new CR-Z's platform will be borrowed from the next-generation Civic, but with four inches chopped from the wheelbase.

Top: 2018 Honda CR-Z (artist's rendering). Bottom: 2015 Honda CR-Z.

Expected to be marginally bigger than the current CR-Z, the new model will borrow design cues from the new NSX and the Civic Type R. Under the hood will be a detuned version of the Type R's turbocharged, 2.0-liter VTEC four-cylinder pumping out more than 280 horsepower. In fact, it looks as if the CR-Z will be positioned and marketed as a high-performance coupe version of the next-generation U.S. Civic, which means it may be called the Civic CR-Z.

While the U.S. version will be fitted with the 2.0-liter engine, Honda is planning to revisit the hybrid for the Japanese domestic market; that edition will employ a turbocharged 1.5-liter hybrid i-DCD powertrain generating upwards of 200 horsepower and incorporating an eight-speed automatic transmission.

While it’s still some way out, we understand a CR-Z prototype or concept car may surface at the 2017 Detroit show in advance of an on-sale date sometime in early 2018.