End of the European road for Honda Civic Type R

Honda has today announced that the Civic Type R will no longer be sold in many areas of Europe from the end of 2010.

The 8000 rpm, 198 bhp, 3-door made its debut in concept form at the Geneva motor show in 2006. The combination of sharp edges and aggressive styling was quite unexpected after its more conservatively styled predecessor. The production version was unveiled at the Paris 2006 Motor Show, with a look that was almost identical to that of the concept shown earlier in the year.

The decision to stop sales across most of Europe has been taken because the car does not currently meet the Euro 5 emission regulations. The introduction of Euro 5 means the Type R can only be sold up until the end of 2010 in markets where those rules apply.

Over 12,000 of this generation of Civic Type R have been sold in the UK since its introduction in January 2007.  The exclusively UK-manufactured car will continue to be sold in markets where regulations allow it (such as Australia and South Africa), and it will remain in production at the Swindon manufacturing plant.

Final offer

With the end of this generation of Type R in sight, Honda is launching a new offer for all new Civic Type R customers. Buyers of the high-revving hot hatch can now benefit from significantly lower OTR prices and a competitive finance deal to make paying monthly easier.

The Type R GT is now available at £19,495 – that’s a sizable customer saving of £2,230. And the new PCP finance offer of 5.9% (over 43 months) means a Type R could cost as little as £235 a month, with a 30% deposit.

The offer covers the Type R GT, Type R LSD and Type R MUGEN 200 models, and runs from now until 29 September, 2010.