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2014 Honda Civic Tourer

The 2014 Civic Tourer was developed and designed in Europe, allowing Honda's European R&D team to lead the creative and technical design process. The car is specifically designed to match the requirements of European customers and European driving conditions. With the Civic name synonymous with multi-dimensional, compact cars; what better place for the development team to start than with the solid foundations of the Civic 5-door.

The Civics of the 1970s and 1980s had low and sleek exterior styling, which helped to emphasise the car's sporty characteristics; but inside they still delivered roominess and versatility.

As the Civic has evolved over the last 40 years, it has remained true to this marriage of sleek, sporty styling and practicality. Known for its clean, dynamic and distinctive design, the current Civic 5-door uses a unique centre fuel tank layout which sees the tank located under the front seats. This allows for unparalleled interior space and Honda's innovative Magic Seat system. This arrangement is carried over to the Civic Tourer.

"The Civic Tourer is the most compact Wagon in the C-segment - just 235mm longer than the Civic 5-door. It is also the lowest Wagon in the C-segment, yet it has the biggest trunk volume in this sector". Patrik Ponec, Project Leader Project Planner, Civic Tourer.

Strong Honda heritage in Wagon derivatives in Europe
The Civic Tourer development team has drawn upon many years of experience in developing Wagon body types. The first Honda Wagon was the three door Accord derived AeroDeck introduced in 1986 followed by an Accord Wagon (limited to EU) in 1991. Further Accord Wagon models followed before the Accord Tourer, which was first introduced in 2002.

The first Civic Aero deck was unveiled in 1998 and it was the first Honda exclusively designed for Europe; and the third car to be built at Honda of the UK Manufacturing (HUM), in Swindon, UK. True to Honda's roots in Wagons, the development team set out to combine practicality and style with an above average level of performance. The view of the team at the time was that ‘Wagons' may be practical but rarely offer much style to interest keen drivers. Wagon sales across Europe at the time accounted for 16% of the C-segment and were growing steadily in popularity.

The Civic Aero deck set new levels of practicality without sacrificing the equally important qualities of driving enjoyment, comfort and refinement. It is this strong reputation and heritage, which has helped the Civic Tourer development team of 2013 to create a car that will exceed customer expectations and delivers class leading space.

"I was the Interior Project Leader for the Civic AeroDeck, it is undoubtedly a moment in my career that is frozen in my memory. The overall concept for the Civic Tourer remains the same as our concept for that car, we wanted to create a Wagon that had distinctive styling, class-leading utility and advanced technology, making it unique and strongly competitive in the market. That is exactly what I feel we have achieved with the Civic Tourer today." Adrian Killham, Large Project Leader, Civic Tourer.

Built in Europe, for Europe
Similarly to the Civic Aerodeck and the current Civic, the new Civic Tourer will be built at Honda's European manufacturing facility, Honda of the UK Manufacturing Ltd (HUM); established in 1985 in Swindon, UK. Honda is committed to manufacturing in the UK and the many awards won by the products built here demonstrate the plant's ability to produce high quality products for the European market.

HUM is a fully integrated car manufacturing facility, producing the whole car (casting, engine assembly, pressing, welding, painting and frame assembly) on one, 370 acre site (1.5 million m2) site. The 1.6 i-DTEC engine which features in the Civic Tourer is also built there, exclusively for the European market. Demonstrating the importance of this new diesel engine to Honda's sales plans in Europe, a new purpose-built diesel engine production line has been installed. This new line is capable of producing up to 500 diesel engines in one day. Operating on a two-shift pattern this equates to one engine every 138 seconds. The new line produces both the 1.6-litre i-DTEC and the 2.2-litre i-DTEC engines.

Market Opportunity
Honda has introduced the Civic Tourer as a response to changing European market conditions. The C-segment Wagon market has shown stability in recent years and is expected to grow in the future. The development team for the Civic Tourer conducted customer clinics in Europe before the development process began in order to confirm what was important to customers when choosing a Wagon. This research indentified two main target customer groups of the Civic Tourer; families raising young children upgrading from smaller categories and used car market and customers with children who have left home and who are downsizing from the traditional higher category.

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