Creating the 2016 Honda Civic Coupe
February 15, 2016
As part of the lineup of the all-new 10th-generation Civics, there’s the Coupe. Like the Sedan, the Coupe was largely designed, developed, and engineered in the U.S., and it is being produced in Honda’s assembly plant in Ontario, Canada.
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John Hwang headed up the development team for the Coupe. And on this week’s edition of “Autoline After Hours†Hwang brings a Coupe to the studio to discuss the whys and hows of the Coupe.
One notable aspect of what Honda is doing here is that they are simply producing a coupe. If you take out the luxury models and muscle cars, then you are left with less than a handful of vehicle manufacturers that are still producing coupes. There is the Kia Forte Koup and the Scion tC, and the tC will end production this August.
Hwang points out that there are some 50,000 people who buy Civic Coupes each year, and that those buyers are the youngest coming into the Honda franchise. Consequently, it is important to provide those buyers with what they want, with hopes that they’ll stick with the brand when they need a couple more doors.
(The Civic Coupe is being launched with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Guess what demographic played a big role in that decision.)
Another aspect that is truly Hondaesque is that yes, they are offering two engines—a turbocharged 1.5-liter, DOHC direct injected engine and a 2.0-liter DOHC port-injected engine—but they’re also offering two transmissions: a CVT and a six-speed manual.
If coupe buyers are a fraction of sedan buyers, then manual transmission buyers are an even smaller fraction of that fraction.
Yet, Hwang explains, it is about providing those who are looking for the opportunity to really drive this sporty coupe (and know that it is sporty, having had the opportunity to get behind the wheel of the car) with what they’re looking for.
Hwang credits the people in Honda manufacturing operations with providing them the ability to make cars with both configuration and powertrain variations.
Hwang talks with “Autoline’s†John McElroy, Henry Payne of The Detroit News and me.
Then the three of us take a look at some of the automotive commercials broadcast during Super Bowl 50, discuss NHTSA’s recent letter to Google that essentially acknowledges that the driver of a Level 4 autonomous car is an Artificial Intelligence, and the EPA’s allegedly nefarious regulation writing that seems to put the kibosh to DIY racing.
And you can see it all here:
