Honda Civic Type R spied with small wing, updated fascias

Even though the latest Honda Civic Type R was just launched last year, Honda appears to be readying updates to the hot hatch. Two examples of the hot hatch were spied at the Nurburgring, both sporting some light camouflage up front and in the rear. The red one reveals a new wing, and the white one shows some more subtle bodywork changes.

Most surprising is the red Civic Type R shown above with its new rear wing. One of the defining characteristics of the hyper Honda has been its radical bodywork and controversial park bench rear wing. As such it's surprising to see such a small wing, almost more of a spoiler, fitted instead. We suspect that there may be enough people that want a Type R, but don't want such a flashy wing, that Honda is working on an option.

The white Civic Type R retains the giant wing, but it has some other subtle tweaks. The main change to the front fascia appears in the lower outboard grilles. There is a new piece of plastic in each one that divides up those large grilles. The exact reason for this is unclear, though. They almost look like they could house some lights, but there wouldn't be a need, since the current round fog lights are still present. The newly fenced off grille section also is completely covered up, so it's not a new opening for additional air flow. Besides these new grilles, there don't appear to be any other major changes up front. The main grille looks like it may have a slightly larger lower half where the Type R badge is, but the upper opening may have shrunk.

The rear fascia mirrors the front. There are almost no changes except for the outboard grilles. The big fake openings also gain little plastic dividers. And, like with the front, they don't seem to herald any actual vents. It does appear that the rear bumper blends into the newly sectioned-off areas, though, so this may be a change to reduce the prominence of the fake vents.

Since these revisions are very minor, we wouldn't be surprised to see them implemented on a Civic Type R in the very near future. It could be used on the next model year or the one following that. There's also the possibility this is a special edition Type R variant. In that case, we might see it even sooner. It may also pack more power.