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The average age of a Civic owner is 58. As Peter Grunert discovers, a desire to capture a younger market informs the radicalism of the new model
Retro is so over. Futurism looks, as it should, like being the way forwards. This seismic shift in the direction of car design is being championed by an unexpected style setter. Yes, the once humdrum Honda Civic.
Here's a mainstream, mass-market hatch that's about to boldly go where few car makers would ever dare to. By next January it will have rolled straight from sketch pad to CAD screen to motorshow stand to showroom, almost entirely unaltered. As pictured, this is precisely the form the regular five-door Civic will take when it goes on sale. Jaws closed now, please.
Compared to the radical concept car revealed at Geneva last March, here's what has been tamed, or otherwise altered to suit the tastes of the buying public: the wing mirrors. That's it. The clear, chrome-backed lighting panels stretching the width of the front and rear ends look inspired by the headgear of the bad guys from Battlestar Galactica.
'With many Civic buyers well into their retirement, the risk was that the market would die out... literally'
The alloy fuel filler cap, twin triangular exhaust outlets and spoiler slicing straight through the centre of the back window appear to have been ordered straight from the Mugen tuning catalogue, circa 2010; these will be found even on the most basic models. Same goes for the big alloys, available in a choice of 16- through to 18-inches in diameter. All a bit of a shock, you'd have to say, for the Civic's traditional audience.
Those closest to the car's development admit there's been a strong persuasive factor in the dramatic leap forwards in presence and purpose. In the UK, the average buyer for the last model was 58-years old - rather more 'mature' than for its rivals. With many of these well into their retirement, the risk was that the Civic's market would die out... quite literally.
So the tartan rug and trilby have been ditched in favour of a generous helping of suede-style Alcantara, with brushed-aluminium-style, shiny piano-black or basketball-skin-textured plastics.
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