Honda confirmed on Thursday that the 2024 Civic Hybrid will be much more than a niche model, with plans to make the hybrid version account for 40% of total Civic sales in the U.S.
In U.S. specifications, the 2024 Honda Civic Hybrid will include a 2.0-liter inline-four engine, operating on an efficiency-focused Atkinson cycle, as part of Honda’s two-motor hybrid system that stands out for how it bypasses the need for anything resembling a conventional transmission.
This allows the electric motor system to provide efficient propulsion, especially at city speeds, offering the responsive acceleration and almost instantaneous torque delivery of an electric vehicle, while the gasoline engine acts more like a generator at higher speeds. Changes in the system configuration, introduced with the latest CR-V and Accord hybrids, allow for more motor torque at lower speeds, enhancing that impression.
Honda has not had an entry in this category since the discontinuation of the Insight hybrid sedan in the spring of 2022, at which time the return of the Civic Hybrid for the U.S. was initially confirmed. The Insight had marked the arrival of the two-mode system to a compact car, after an earlier Civic Hybrid using the old IMA hybrid system was discontinued in 2015.
Rivals to the Civic Hybrid will include the Hyundai Elantra Hybrid, Toyota Corolla Hybrid, and Toyota Prius Hybrid, all of which have versions achieving 50 mpg or more combined. The current Honda Accord Hybrid, a larger sedan but with a version of the Civic Hybrid system, achieves up to 48 mpg combined.
Honda sold nearly 264,000 Civics in the U.S. in 2021 (the last full model year before a redesign in 2022), and before that, the Insight had been a niche model with about 20,000 per year. It claims to have manufactured 11 million Civics since 1988.
Honda confirmed in January that the 2024 Civic Hybrid will arrive in both sedan and hatchback forms. Production of the Civic Hybrid will begin with the sedan at its Alliston, Ontario plant, while production of the Civic Hybrid hatchback will follow in Greensburg, Indiana. Both the hybrid system and the engine are manufactured in Ohio facilities.
The automaker doesn’t stop at building hybrids for the U.S. It reports that 56% of current CR-V and Accord models are sold in hybrid versions, accounting for over a quarter of its total sales in the U.S.
Currently, Honda does not sell a single all-electric model, but sales will begin in the first half of 2024 with the 2024 Honda Prologue, a model built on the foundations of GM Ultium. In 2025, a mid- to large-size electric vehicle based on Honda’s dedicated architecture will arrive.
