Honda says the Civic Tourer will stand out in Europe's crowded compact wagon segment because of its "sleek and sophisticated exterior combined with class-leading interior space."
The company will debut a production version of the Civic Tourer at next month's Frankfurt auto show, alongside an updated version of the Civic hatchback.
Honda stopped selling compact wagons in Europe 15 years ago. Rival Toyota also withdrew from the segment but the automaker is currently rolling out the Auris Touring Sports, its first compact wagon sold in Europe since 2006 and the only wagon also offered with a hybrid powertrain.
Honda will begin sales of the Civic Tourer early next year. Honda expects 20 percent of Civic sales in Europe to be wagons.
The Civic Tourer will be Honda's first production model to offer a rear adaptive damper system, which improves stability and comfort under varying load and driving conditions.
The wagon will be built at Honda's factory in Swindon, England, alongside the Civic hatchback, Jazz subcompact and CR-V crossover.
The Civic is a key model line for Honda in Europe with sales of 25,079 units in the first half, up 20 percent from the same period in 2012, according to JATO Dynamics. The Civic was Honda's No. 2 seller in the region, slightly behind the CR-V which had sales of 25,648, up from 16,790 the year before.
Wagon variants currently represent 25 percent of compact car sales in Europe, according to Toyota.
Source;
http://europe.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130809/ANE/130809844/honda-touts-civic-wagons-sleek-look#axzz2bUWlexHW
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