People’s supercar is Swindon’s finest
BRITISH car-makers were flying the flag with pride as they vowed it was ‘business as usual’ despite Brexit at this week’s Geneva Motor Show. Among the stars shining brightest was Honda’s hottest hatchback — the final production version of its £30,000 Civic Type-R people’s supercar, which is built in Britain and will be exported to Japan and, for the first time, the U.S.
The 170 mph-plus hatchback is made in Swindon alongside the more mainstream tenth-generation Civic.
Powered by a revised two-litre VTEC turbo petrol engine with an output of 320bhp — accelerating from rest to 62 mph in 5.7 seconds — it has a sixspeed manual transmission and beats the performance of the outgoing model by at least 3 mph.
It is also being made more userfriendly, with a new ‘comfort’ setting alongside agile ‘sport’ and track-focused ‘+R’ modes.
Swindon plant director Justin Smith says 1,000 Type-Rs are being exported to Honda’s home country, Japan.
Altogether, 13,000 will be built over the next year and sold to 25 countries — 3,500 will be for Britain and Europe.
And on March 27, the first shipment goes to the U.S.
They count as part of the 70,000 Civics built this year by the 3,700-strong Swindon workforce to be sold to 89 countries.
‘It’s ramping up nicely. There’s a really good spirit at the factory,’ says Mr Smith. ‘In Japan, our British-built Type R is four times oversubscribed. They go mad for it.’ McLAREN took the wraps off its new £208,000 212 mph 720S supercar — marking the start of the Woking car-maker’s second generation of vehicles. Chief executive Mike Flewitt said it was ‘a revolutionary leap forwards’. PEUGEOT’S 3008 crossover has been named European Car of the Year, pipping Alfa Romeo’s Giulia and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class to the top spot.