New Honda Civic Type R with 276 hp billed as most extreme Honda ever

On the perpetual list of vehicular ungettables that enthusiasts in America pine for is Honda’s souped-up Civic Type R, and the fourth generation of Honda’s hot hatch is being previewed in something close to production form at the 2014 Paris Auto Show. To whet our appetites, Honda has released some preliminary information along with a sketch of the blue bullet set to take the stage later this week.

According to Honda, the new Civic will have “unmatched performance compared to all previous Type R cars, including Civic, Integra, Accord and NSX.” Yes, this little front-wheel-drive five-door is said to perform even better than the NSX Type R (another car we never got on these shores, come to think of it). Consider our appetites whetted.

Seen by many as the ultimate Japanese “pocket rocket,” though distributed only to European and Japan-market customers in the past, the Civic Type R has always boasted a high-revving four-cylinder engine, though with natural aspiration, it never was able to break the 200-hp barrier. This time around, Honda ain’t messing around: as has been widely expected, Honda has added a turbocharger to the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine to supplement Honda’s latest i-VTEC technology, resulting in over 276 hp, according to Honda along with a still-undisclosed amount of torque. Redline is down to 7,000 rpm, considerably lower than the stratospheric redlines of previous Civic Type Rs, but it’s still pretty impressive for a turbocharged mill that passes Euro 6 emissions standards.