While sales of the Civic have done Honda Cars proud in the UK, the appeal of the car they have sold since 1972; when it was introduced as a 2 door coupe; has waned amongst the Japanese consumer. The care will no longer be sold in Japan due to falling sales but the Japanese manufacturer will still make cars for export despite the fact that it is made in another thirteen sites in other countries.

The petrol model was the first to be axed followed closely by the hybrid engine models which run on both petrol and electric. The car which has clocked up around 17,000,000 sales and rising only managed around 9000 over the last year in its home country. The highest ever sales of the Civic in Japan was way back in 1975 where at the height of their popularity Honda Cars managed to move 177,000 to new car buyers in Japan. That is an astonishing feat when you realise that car sales were suffering because of OPEC agreeing to raise oil prices ten percent early in the year and cars were already seen as a luxury there.

The move from the Civic in Japan has nothing to do with Honda cars becoming less popular. The Civic is just a casualty brought about because of the success of other cars from the Honda workshops. The CR-Z has recently won the accolade of Japan’s car of the year.  This signifies a shift in the taste of the Japanese consumer.

Whichever car the consumer prefers is obviously going to be where Honda concentrates most of its efforts and the fact that people in Japan are moving over to their new models means they are doing something right. The good news is that because of the success of the model over here both on the road and in motorsport we can be sure of the Civic on our road for a long time to come.