Honda Civic Hatchback gets manual with turbo option for Canada

Honda Civic Hatchback will have manual with turbo option for Canada (Photo: Nadine Filion/Autofocus.ca)

Honda continued showcasing its growing lineup of all-new Civic models with the North American debut of a prototype of its soon-to-arrive five-door hatchback variant. The hatch prototype first made its global debut in Geneva, and is now appearing at the 2016 New York Auto Show.

While it isn’t exactly the three-door some hot hatch enthusiasts are clamoring for, there is some great news for those who love driving stick with pep; the 2017 Honda Civic Hatch will get a six-speed manual gearbox mated to the all-new DOHC direct-injection 1.5L 4-cylinder turbocharged engine.

The much-anticipated return of the hatchback to Canada follows a lengthy hiatus, and if history repeats itself, the production version hatch won’t sway too far from this concept. At last year’s New York Auto Show, the 2016 Civic Coupe was first revealed in concept form, and much of what we saw was retained in the production version coupe.

The Honda Civic five-door hatch is expected to hit showrooms in Canada this fall, while we’ll need to wait until 2017 for the even hotter Si variants and the Honda Civic Type R to arrive on our shores.

Related: Honda Civic Type R unleashed in Geneva

The 2016 New York Auto Show runs until April 3 at the Javits Center in New York City.