First Honda Civic Tourer spy shots

These are the first pictures of the production version of the Honda Honda Civic Tourer estate, recently seen as a concept car at this year’s Geneva motor show.

To be built in Swindon alongside the hatchback, the car will go on sale in the first quarter of next year. 

The production car will look much like the concept, although the front-end design will be toned down and the lights will be less ornate. But the low roofline at the rear will stay, along with the large window in the C-pillar.

Distinctive features, like the shape of the rear lights and the red bar that runs across the tailgate, will also make production. A small cutout in the disguise tape on the bootlid suggests that bar will incorporate a lighting function.

Honda is not claiming best in class load space, instead describing the Tourer’s capacity as close to the best. But expect the car to feature some clever detailing.

The Civic’s layout, with its fuel tank under the front seats and beam axle rear suspension, means the Tourer will have a very flat boot floor. It could use seats that copy the Jazz’s, which have squabs that flip up to create a second luggage compartment and fold flat into the floor. 

The manufacturer's engineers said the Tourer will do something clever with the loading sill, which will take advantage of the flat floor. The way the boot lid meets the bumper of the test car in our pictures suggests that the company has effectively done away with the sill. 

Honda reckons the Tourer will account for 20 per cent of Honda Civic sales. It maintains that the C-segment market, in which the Civic competes with the Volkswagen Golf and the Ford Focus, is growing, and hopes that the car will also attract buyers from the class above in the same way that the Skoda Octavia has for Skoda . 

Dan Stevens