2025 Honda Civic to go all-hybrid

A range rejig will see the most affordable variant in Honda’s Civic lineup – which already starts at a very un-bargainlike $47,200 drive-away – deleted, as the brand moves its grocery-getting small hatchback away from pure petrol power towards a 100-percent hybrid offering.

Before you start sharpening your pitchfork, fret not: the Civic Type R is safe for now, Honda Australia sees it as a slightly different species to the garden-variety Civic. However, Honda’s plans for the regular Civic are still double-edged – on one hand, the petrol-electric hybrid powertrain of the Civic is set to become more affordable, with a lower-spec e:HEV L grade to be introduced next year to join the Civic e:HEV LX range-topper that’s been on sale since late 2023. On the other hand, the discontinuation of the turbo petrol Civic VTi-LX could see an increase in the price of entry to Civic ownership.

Currently, the non-hybrid VTi-LX is priced at $47,200 drive-away, with the similarly-equipped e:HEV LX priced at $55,000 drive-away. Prices for the all-hybrid 2025 Civic range won’t be announced until closer to its local launch (which will occur “soon”, according to Honda Australia), but getting the incoming base-spec hybrid to equal the price point of the former entry model would certainly be a challenge for the company’s product planners.

Full details will come closer to launch, but besides confirmation that the petrol-only Civic VTi-LX will no longer be offered, other details of the 2025 Honda Civic range are as yet unknown. A mild facelift will be applied in the form of a new bumper and grille, and the latest evolution of the Honda connect infotainment system will be offered in both the L and LX grades, with built-in sat-nav and voice assistant functions courtesy of Google.

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Mechanically, expect the same 135kW/315Nm outputs from the hybrid’s 2.0-litre atmo petrol and electric motor combo, with an average fuel consumption of 4.2L/100km.

Will Honda’s all-hybrid strategy for the Civic produce dividends in the showroom? Since the introduction of the Civic hybrid it’s only accounted for less than half of the nameplate’s sales in this country (which has so far recorded just 830 cars across VTi-LX, e:HEV LX and Type R this year), but overall sales of hybrid passenger cars have risen by 63 percent in 2024 (more if you count plug-in hybrids), while sales of petrol-powered vehicles in that segment has declined by nearly 16 percent in the same period.

Honda’s Civic sales are still miniscule in this market, but getting on the right side of that hybrid uptake trend line may pay off – particularly as the Federal Government’s NVES emissions scheme kicks in next year.

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The regular Civic will become the second Honda model in Australia to go hybrid-only, following from the new-generation Honda Accord that arrived in May this year. The brand’s hybrid offerings will expand further in the near future, with more petrol-electric variants of the brand’s mainstays, the Honda ZR-V and Honda CR-V, due to land in 2025.