Honda has used the Paris Motor Show to throw off its beige cardigan, taking the perfectly practical, sensible Civic Hatch and turning it into the winged creation you see here. Designed to preview the next generation of Civic hot-hatches, the Type-R Prototype appeals to the boy racer living in every petrolhead.
From a distance, you could be forgiven for thinking a teenager had driven their grandmother's Civic through the local aftermarket automotive parts and accessories retailer. There's a wider, more aggressive bumper and hood scoop, and the headlamps are finished with darker glass to match the paintwork.
Carbon fiber side skirts flow into a menacing carbon diffuser down back, and there are three (functional, according to Honda) exhaust pipes to help the engine breathe. As if that wasn't lairy enough, the roof also flows into a massive rear wing that would look right at home on the back of a BTCC car.
The whole package sits on black 20-inch wheels, which hide red brake callipers and dinner-plate sized discs up front. They sit under pumped up wheelarches, which have been widened to house the 245-section tires and more aggressive suspension tune.
Although it's just a design study at the moment, we'd be banking on an almost unchanged version of the Type-R Prototype making it to production next year.
Take a look at the Type-R in Honda's short promo video below:
Source: Honda