Honda Type R Performance Car to be Kept Alive: "No Honda Without Type R" said Kakinuma

Honda will keep producing Type R Performance cars. Hideki Kakinuma stated in an interview that "without Type R, there is no Honda."

Highlights1. Honda Type R Performance to be kept alive.2. Hideki Kakinuma stated in an interview that "without Type R, there is no Honda."3. Honda views these issues as "new challenges to give our customers the thrill of driving.

Honda Type R Performance

Peugeot ceased production of the GTi a few years ago, and Renault will do the same with the RS in 2023. Ford has announced intentions to discontinue the Fiesta and Focus, which means the ST variants will also go away. Furthermore, there won't be a new version of the Hyundai i30 N any time soon. Hot hatchbacks still have some chance, as VW has already stated that it will remain with its GTI variants. The lead engineer for the Civic Type R claims that Honda won't give up on thrilling automobiles either.

Hideki Kakinuma stated in an interview that "without Type R, there is no Honda." The Japanese automaker, he continued, "strongly thinks that driving enjoyment is the basic essence of private, personal mobility." Naturally, he maintains realism in the automotive sector, where tougher regulations are compelling businesses to adopt electrification:

"[Because of] carbon neutrality and emissions regulations that are very stringent, it's very difficult to think about such a sports model in these boundaries."

Good news: Honda views these issues as "new challenges to give our customers the thrill of driving." Kakinuma informed the British magazine that the company is still dedicated to bringing in more Type Rs in order to achieve this. Fascinatingly, he said that, while he's not getting his hopes up too high, there might yet be time for a high-performance automobile with a combustion engine.

We can infer that Kakinuma was likely referring to synthetic fuels from the engineer's statement that carbon neutrality can still be attained with an ICE-powered vehicle. Toyota is experimenting with combustion engines that run on hydrogen. Performance automobiles with conventional engines face a bleak future as stricter Euro 7 regulations take effect later this decade.

As long as an automobile is enjoyable to drive, Kakinuma contends, it doesn't necessarily need to have a gasoline engine to qualify as a Type R. Let's not forget that Ko Yamamoto, technical advisor for Honda Motor Europe, would not rule out the possibility of a plug-in hybrid Civic Type R based on the recently introduced model.