- The 2023 Honda HR-V will enter a new generation and will be based on the 11th-generation Honda Civic.
- Honda has yet to reveal powertrain but it's expected to be similar to the Honda Civic.
- Honda says the 2023 HR-V will launch this summer
Honda’s expertly named Hi-rider Revolutionary Vehicle, or HR-V for short, is entering its third generation for 2023 and is, shall we say, growing up. Formerly based on the now-defunct Fit, the team at Honda opted to move to the larger 11th-generation Civic platform to underpin the new model. As you’d expect, this larger platform means that the HR-V will be larger as well.
Honda is still light on specifics about the HR-V. Unknown yet are details concerning powertrain and suspension design. We can make some assumptions based on its Civic roots, however. Expect to see either the 2.0-liter naturally aspirated I4 or the turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder mill underhood. While it would be an interesting decision to port over Honda’s six-speed manual for the HR-V, the only transmission option will likely be the continuously variable unit. The MacPherson strut front suspension is also expected to carry over.
There are a few obvious reasons why Honda is porting the HR-V over to the latest Civic platform despite the fact that the CR-V already sits on it. First, when Honda discontinued the Fit in the US, continuing to use its platform would be more expensive. The second: sales. Looking at the sales numbers for the Civic-based CR-V and the Fit-based HR-V, the numbers don’t lie. Honda sells nearly twice as many of the larger CR-Vs as it does the subcompact HR-V.
Like the finer details, the HR-V’s price is still to be determined. You can assume that the price will rise slightly from the current $23,095, but the highly competitive compact crossover battle should help this price from straying too far away. That said, these questions should be answered before the expected release this summer.
Will a larger HR-V cannibalize some of the aging CR-V’s sales? Or will the upcoming HR-V just carve more out of the crossover pie chart for Honda? Let us know your thoughts below.
