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Honda Civic Type R prototype will debut at Tokyo Auto Salon in January

Expect power and a big wing.

Steven Ewing Former managing editor
Steven Ewing spent his childhood reading car magazines, making his career as an automotive journalist an absolute dream job. After getting his foot in the door at Automobile while he was still a teenager, Ewing found homes on the mastheads at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog and Motor1.com before joining the CNET team in 2018. He has also served on the World Car Awards jury. Ewing grew up ingrained in the car culture of Detroit -- the Motor City -- before eventually moving to Los Angeles. In his free time, Ewing loves to cook, binge trash TV and play the drums.
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Honda Civic Type R Prototype
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Honda Civic Type R Prototype

It's almost here.

 Honda

The new will debut in January, the automaker confirmed Thursday. will show its hottest hatch at the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon, which kicks off on Jan. 14.

This won't be the final-form road-going Type R, though. Honda says it'll show a Type R prototype "wearing a special camouflage." Expect this wrap to be slightly more revealing than what the company has already shown, but it should leave a little to the imagination. Honda routinely debuts prototype vehicles that are extremely close to production-ready, so the Civic Type R in January should be pretty representative of the final product.

Honda has yet to release any official details about the new hatch, only saying it'll be "the best performing Civic Type R ever." The styling will definitely be toned down compared to the current Type R, and it should get all of the interior refinement upgrades as the rest of the 11th-generation lineup. Expect turbo power, a manual transmission, a limited-slip differential and a huge wing.

The 2023 Honda Civic Type R will be on display in Tokyo from Jan. 14 to 16. The production version is expected to debut sometime later in the year.

Here's the new Honda Civic Type R testing at Suzuka

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