Honda has officially confirmed that the new Honda Civic Type R will be powered by a 2.0 litre direct-injection turbocharged engine with more than 276bhp sent straight to the front wheels.

During the unveiling of the Honda Civic Sport Tourer at the Frankfurt show the President of Honda Motor Europe Manubu Nishimae revealed the engine size and rough power output although he also said that they still had "two years of solid development work" so that number could increase by 2015.

Due to be launched in the summer of that year, the Civic Type R is being developed under the watch of Japanese engineer Suehiro Hasshi but key members of Honda Germany are being drafted in to help with the ride and handling setup for setting the Nurburgring lap record for a front-wheel drive car. This was set by the Renaultsport Megane 265 and currently stands at just over eight minutes.

Speaking to Auto Express at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Suehiro Hasshi said: "The reason for turbocharging is quite simple. If you look at our competitors they all have between 250-270bhp - to match that kind of output with a naturally-aspirated engine would be very difficult technically, and the extra control and driveability you get from wider torque performance is important. But we do want to keep the Honda character and although this is quite a challenge the new Type R will be the highest revving turbo engine on the market.