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Honda is looking to a variety of products to fill the gap left by not having a diesel Civic for the whole of next year.
An 18-month delay to the replacement model has combined with new Euro5 emissions regulations that condemn the current Civic's i-CTDI engine, creating a vacuum for 2011.?The all-new Civic arrives at the beginning of 2012, complete with a new smaller-capacity diesel to join the 2.2 unit from the Accord. "The new Civic is not too far away so we couldn't justify the development of the current car," said Honda fleet boss Graham Avent.
The delay to the new model, which was originally planned to go on sale in January 2011, has been caused by Honda's desire to "get it to the top of the class for emissions", according to UK managing director Dave Hodgetts. Although an emissions target hasn't been revealed, Hodgetts confirmed it would have to be "well under 100g/km" in order to meet the firm's target to lead a class that is already at 99g/km in diesel form from a variety of manufacturers, and is as low as 89g/km when taking into account Toyota's hybrids.
The Civic diesel accounts for around 13% of Honda's corporate volume at present, and Avent said the firm will look to make up for the lost volume through expansion across the range, including the new Civic Ci fleet-specific model, a 1.4-litre petrol with slashed P11D price to give the same benefit-in-kind tax payments as a VW Golf Bluemotion despite the higher emissions. The fleet-orientated Ci is based on the Si model, but adds Bluetooth and cuts the price by £3000. It has been delayed by a couple of months until November due to negotiations with HMRC about the fact that it wouldn't appear on consumer price lists, although this has now been resolved.
Avent said better supply of the previously constrained CR-V and Accord diesel models will also pick up some of the slack left by the Civic diesel's departure, and there will still be some Civic diesels available early next year that were built ahead of the new rules coming into force.
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