Does talk of Civic-based product raise potential for ZR-V?

NEXT opportunity to deliver Honda’s hybrid electric e:HEV system in New Zealand will involve a sports utility, potentially a new type recently shown in Japan, though a Civic with the technology is not being ruled out.

This from a Honda NZ high-up in response to speculation about the electric-involved Civic being close.

Fresh thought about where the e:HEV technology will place here also comes in the same week Honda Japan has confirmed a programme to build a fuel cell version of its largest SUV here, the CR-V, in the United States.

For now that’ll be a low-volume project, with no right-hand drive potential, considering a watching brief here, says Honda NZ general manager of sales, Peter Ashley.

The same status seems to hang over Honda’s only fully electric product, the petite Honda-e city car. Honda Japan’s has not altered its decision that NZ is not suitable for that model.

The e:HEV Civic is already sold in the United Kingdom and is about to go into Australia, which also takes the new HR-V.

However, Ashley has perhaps dropped a big hint about NZ taking a different course.

Adding to comment that an SUV with e:HEV makes more sense in the current market conditions, as that body type has become predominantly favoured by New Zealanders whereas sedans and hatches are less popular than was once the case, he has further impressed that the car in consideration is based on “the Civic platform.”

That’s not the HR-V, which continues to be built upon the same underpinning as the Jazz small car.

But it is conceivably the latest CR-V and also a new SUV Honda Japan unveiled in July, that sits below CR-V and above HR-V.

The ZR-V went into production in September also presents in front- and four-wheel-drive and the choice of two powertrains, a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine and a 2.0-litre non-turbo four-cylinder petrol engine.

The larger powerplant has the same two-motor hybrid system also fitted to the Civic e:HEV and the CR-V, with identical outputs of 135kW and 315Nm and much the same emissions counts and economy.

With the Civic (below), the claim is 4.7 litres per 100 kilometres on the European WLTP test cycle.

That makes it markedly more frugal than the current sole engine offered in Civic here, a 1.5-litre in the hatch Sport and Mugen, which has a WLTP-cited 7L/100km consumption.

CO2 count is 105 grams per kilometre cited, against the 1.5’s advertised 148g/km. By comparison, the HR-V’s 96kW/253Nm unit delivers 4.3 litres per 100km and 122g/km CO2, according WLTP testing.

The ZR-V’s 2.0-litre powertrain generates 5kW and 75Nm more than Civic’s 1.5-litre. The petrol engine is a detuned version of one used by the Honda Accord; in the latter it has 23kW more. Zero to 100kmh takes 7.8 seconds for the Civic and top speed is 180kmh.

While petrol still obviously involves, Honda’s arrangement nonetheless delivers an electric drive.

The set-up performs two different functions – while one motor directly powers the front wheels (with or without the engine), the second motor is coupled to the engine and acts as a ‘generator’, charging a lithium-ion battery.

Though the cars feature an e-CVT gearbox, this actually has no gears at all; the electric motors provide drive. Drive selection is taken care of by a push-button control.

Ashley says the Civic, which recently achieved a five star score in Euro NCAP, cannot be discounted as a potential entry into NZ, but realistically if that sign-off occurs, it would not be here before mid-2024.

Honda Japan has made clear that hybridisation will be the maximum amount of electrification in the ZR-V, which it has determined to be an export car – whereas the hybrid CR-V is cited as purely for North America .

Honda believes hybrid still has a part to play in reducing CO2 emissions and helping customers transition to zero-emissions driving.

ZR-V is prioritised as a front-wheel drive; the all-wheel drive versions were created to lend “greater peace of mind” to domestic Japan customers who might have to drive snowy roads.

The ZR-V’s interior largely mimics the Civic’s, with a honeycomb vent stretching across three quarters of the dashboard, and a tablet-style 9.0-inch infotainment screen fitted atop. There’s also a 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster.

Cited body dimensions are a length of 4567mm, width of 1829mm, height of 1610mm and a 2654mm wheelbase.

The e:HEV products have the Honda Sensing safty suite that includes autonomous emergency braking, a pop-up bonnet to protect pedestrians in an impact, a traffic-jam crawling setting for the adaptive cruise control, improved lane-keeping steering and a blind-spot monitor.

Honda is not alone is using a drive system that involves a petrol engine to generate electricity to run electric drive motors. The Nissan X-Trail and Qashqai are next in line for this approach, in an e-Power format coming on sale here next year.