As you probably know, Honda has built cars in the UK for a long time. Currently, the European Civic is built at the Swindon factory, but Honda sales in Europe have crashed. The factory can crank out 250,000 cars a year, the Nikkei reports, but output has been reduced to about 100,000 vehicles due to lack of demand.

That's a bummer for Honda's European operations, but it's probably great news for North Americans. To prop up its British manufacturing business, Honda will import Civic hatchbacks (five-door models) to North America starting in 2016. That almost certainly includes the Civic Type R we just saw unveiled in Geneva—the 305-hp, turbocharged, flared, be-winged monster that Honda claims can slaughter the Nordschleife in 7:50.63.

That's a mere 10 seconds behind the mid-engined, rear-wheel drive Porsche Cayman GT4's claimed time, and 30 seconds behind the 911 GT3. That madness, in America? Honda, if this pans out, it may just make up for leaving enthusiasts wandering in the desert since the S2000 died out.

Here's the thing, though. Honda wants to import something like 30-40,000 units a year. That's big (read: impossible) volume for a hyper-niche car like the Civic Type R. As a result, look for mainstream models like the UK's Civic Sport to account for most of the cars.

What follows is speculation, but intriguing speculation: why not use the opportunity to introduce a five-door Civic Si, too?

Honda

There's precedent for this. The seventh generation Civic Si, chassis code EP3, was birthed in Swindon and sold in the U.S. and Canada. It was a three-door, but the times were different then. Five-door hatches are rapidly supplanting three-door offerings in North America. And the EP3 body style was never offered in a non-Si trim over here.

If Honda follows precedent, it could mean that a line of performance-oriented, five-door hatchbacks will be headed across the Atlantic soon. At worst, we'll get the mainstream Civic Sport hatchback (pictured at the top of the page), hopefully the Type R, and ideally a new Si out of the deal.

Either way, this is probably good news for American Honda enthusiasts.

Nikkei via TTAC

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