Honda’s new, Swindon-built Tourer estate car will account for around a quarter of all Civic sales in the UK when it reaches dealers early in the new year.
Sales begin in December and prices start at GBP20,260 for the 1.8-litre petrol iVTEC and range up to GBP30,000 for a fully loaded car with an impressive array of safety and driver assistance packages.
Go deeper with GlobalData
In line with the hatchback, like the Tourer built only in England, sales are expected to be split 70% retail and 30% fleet with the 1.6 litre diesel particularly attractive to companies and user choosers with CO2 emissions of just 99g/km, impressive fuel economy and the ability to go more than 800 miles on a single tank of fuel.
The Civic – most are exported to Europe and some are shipped as far as Australia – is an important model for Honda Europe, with around 20,000 sales a year in the UK. It’s the mainstay product at Swindon which also builds the Jazz and CR-V.
Civic project leader Adrian Killham said: “The C sector is important for us because it is still growing strongly and in terms of the estate, there is a lot of downsizing from the D segment going on.
“The Tourer has been completely developed and tested in Europe. The front end is carried over from the hatchback but everything from the B pillar back is new. The wheelbase remains the same with an increased rear overhang. By extending the roofline we have also overcome the criticism we received with the hatchback over rear headroom.”
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataKillham said the adaptive damper system, standard on the two top grades and optional with entry level trim, had been applied to the rear only.
“The rear is where all the work is being done and where the additional weight will be. There was no need for it at the front which also means we have been able to keep weight and price down.”
Honda last offered a Civic wagon between 1998 and 2001 – it was part of the generation developed with MG Rover. MG Rover designed a similar estate variant of its own Rover 45 line but never got beyond the prototype stage (at least one is still on the road in the West Midlands). Honda did put the estate on sale but it was dropped from the range when the Civic was redesigned for 2001 and customers moved more towards SUVs and MPVs like the CR-V.
Honda now sees an opportunity as estate car sales in this segment start to grow again across Europe.
