Honda recently revealed the all-new Honda Civic Hatchback, and it is known that the model will be offered for sale in ASEAN markets. However, does that include Malaysia as well? Well, not likely is the answer, according to Katsuto Hayashi, managing director and CEO of Honda Malaysia.
During a Q&A session at the media test drive of the tenth-gen Honda Civic Sedan, Hayashi, when asked about the prospect of Malaysians being offered the Civic Hatchback, had this to say:
“My understanding is the market demand is not enough to introduce the hatchback but, of course, selling cars is our business. So, if the market demand is there in Malaysia, we will think about it but currently, I’m not sure.”
ASEAN markets that appear set to receive the Civic Hatchback include Thailand and Indonesia, with the former being a place of production for the model. As for the latter, Hayashi explained that sedans are taxed higher than hatchbacks in Indonesia, making it only logical to introduce the hatchback there.
“In Indonesia, the situation is completely different. The main car body style in Indonesia is the hatchback. The tax scheme is different from Malaysia, so the price for hatchbacks are much lower than the sedan, so that’s why they are introducing the hatchback there,” he said.
Sedans in Indonesia are subjected to luxury tax, where sedans with an engine below 1,500 cc are taxed 30%, those with 1,501 to 3,000 cc engines are taxed 40% and exceeding 3,000 cc is 70%. Hatchbacks meanwhile, are taxed at just 10%.
There you have it, if you are very interested in the Civic Hatchback, you’ll have to make your voices heard enough to warrant Honda Malaysia to bring the model in, but for now, there doesn’t appear to be any concrete plans.
GALLERY: 2017 Honda Civic Hatchback
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- New Honda Civic hatchback heads stateside
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- New Honda Civic hatchback heads stateside
GALLERY: Honda Civic Hatchback Prototype at GIIAS 2016
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
”As for the latter, Hayashi explained that sedans are taxed higher than sedans in Indonesia, making it only logical to introduce the hatchback there.”
Sedans taxed higher than sedans? Is it typo?
Thanks for the spot there. The error has been amended.
Tow truck lover dinosaur vtec 2016 Civic R&D mechanical design failure that cannot fixed… turbo-vtec launched 2weeks to overheat broke world auto record + tons of others mechanical problems… CVT=EarthDream? Oh sohai… all built to park behind backyard for 2016 year-end lelong sales…
Civic turbo pon tak jalan… design pelik… takut breakdown lagi…
Vote here!
Thumbs up Civic h/b.
Thumbs down Golf TSI
All below only talk big to own a 140k Hatchback Gear-shift design failure car…
wait till Honda Malaysia comes with the Civic Hybrid Plug In and it is sold for RM80k. All those Civic buyers will cry like baby.
All cars brands are coming out with their plug ins. Look, even Volvo S90 also launched yesterday
Talk is cheap, show facts. Trolling on the keyboard may case damage to logic.
Cakap saja. Where is the proof???
In Thailand civic turbo already have overheating issue , sorry to say new turbo civic performance very bad , my 25 years dolphin easily tapow turbo civic
Why did you make the silly mistake…looking for cheap publicity issit because you are not popular like the other writers…inferiority complex should be addressed instantly…but overall the article is good…
The sedan already looks like a hatchback in order to accommodate the talilights design…the side profile kind of weird looking especially near the rear…the front fascia doesnt match the butt which is too avant garde…
“sedans are taxed higher than sedans in Indonesia”
typo here?
Thanks for the spot.
Honda Malaysia would be foolish not to bring in the hatchback Civic FC. Ok, fine, you don’t need to CKD it here (but seriously, why not ? You’re already assembling the sedan with high local content), but FFS don’t deny Malaysians that option… if Thailand and Indonesia are getting it, why can’t we get it too ? Really now…
Because Malaysian are poorer than Indon and Thais
Lots of errors in the article
1. “Well, not like is the answer, according to Katsuto Hayashi” – should be not likely
2. “As for the latter, Hayashi explained that sedans are taxed higher than sedans in Indonesia” – the first “sedans” mentioned here should be “hatchbacks”
3. “Sedans in Indonesia are subject to luxury tax” – I believe it should be “subjected”
English teacher spotted.
Joker , as long all people faham ok la ,
I’d prefer the hatchback rather than the (weird-looking-ugly-butt) sedan. So, how do we show that the demand is here? Spam their FB wall?
What they meant is, when there are higher demand in Toyota Altis.
The few hatchbacks i want is ek9 and ep3 from honda.. :c malaysia damn hard to find
Hatchback….hatchback….hatchback..
The hatchback looks too much ah Beng look. At least mazda3 hatchback and Focus hatchback looks much better.
If MY had Indomee car tax structure, pipu wud riot on the streets alredi!
So sad to hear this news.
How to contact Katsuto Hayashi?
And who said hatchbacks aren’t popular? Look at all the Myvis and Jazz on the road. Just the Myvi alone outnumbers all the other cars.
If or when Myvi owners upgrade to C-segment, Honda should have the options available. At the moment, the only viable Japanese C-segment hatchback is the Mazda 3, which comes with a smaller boot and only a 3-year warranty.
Ever since I heard the news about the Honda Civic hatchback, I have held off buying any other car, hoping that it will come to Malaysia. Honda Jazz is a bit too small. And the HR-V is too big. Sigh…
I’d pick the hatch over the sedan, the rear looks so much better.
Yeah, anyone knows how do we give our feedback to Honda? He says “market demand is not high enough”, i’d like to contribute to that demand statistics.
WE WANT THE HONDA CIVIC IN HATCHBACK FORM. POSSIBLY WITH MANUAL TRANS.
Thumbs up and let’s show some support.
And include Magic Seats which is missing in the sedan, plus take out the stupid crossbeam at the boot.
Useful acceleration time in city driving should be 0 to 60 km/h, not 0 – 100 km/h.
You can have pretty good century sprint(for ordinary buyers) but when it is a single turbo coupled with CVT, I doubt it can accelerate better than a twincharged DSG or twinscrol turbo 8-speeder in this particular range of 0-60km/h.
Actually all cars sprint well to 60. Especially those that sprint well to 100.
My old car does 0-60 in well under 3 secs.. but no, its not a very street friendly car.
The point is, what you really want is in gear acceleration. 20-60….and 80-120 for top gear highway acceleration.
This will determine how tractable and responsive the car is when driving.
don’t repeat the redundancy of proton preve & suprima s…better offer another malaysian suited model like honda brv
Logical tax system unlike in Msia where tax incentives only accorded to XC90 X5 S400
And where is the 30% reduction
election manifesto?
Bercukurlah!!
Tax the rich so no problemo
Hatchback is one thing
I highly sure they are not bringing in the engine as well because it has euro rating of 6. Malaysia only have euro 4 petrol
Dei. Tebo engin alredi here lah!
Are you sure that PERTAMINA indon meet EURO 6 petrol specification ? I seriously doubt that. In fact PERTAMINA still struggle to meet EURO 4 regulation.
Honda sell Civic hatchback because of tax structure that Indonesia have. Thats all. By the way, Honda Indonesia willing to detuned their civic engine to suit the low quality of fuel sold in indonesia.
The back looks like a 90 year grandma’s arse sagging . Yuks
Question… does a(n)
Estate/Station wagon – Volvo V60, Mazda6 wagon, Subaru Levorg
Aeroback – Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, Audi A5 Sportback
Count as hatchbacks? As long it is not a 3 box design with a boot right?
It is no wonder hatchbacks, minivans, MPVs and SUVs are popular there
In Malaysia, tax is higher for hatchback while sedan is cheaper tax. That’s while for those who love hatchback can said no chance already o. As myself is hatchback lover too. Too bad
Isn’t the sedan already hatchback-ish?
I sincerely hope Honda Malaysia can consider bring in Hatchback version.
1.5T + 6MT version.
the best combination for hatchback looks vehicle.
Somehow I find the rear lamp design is much nicer look at hatchback than the sedan version.
Malaysian netizens never satisfied.
Never ending bashing. What also bash gao gao.
Examples
Civic Hatchback – Ugly
Nissan – Ugly
Toyota – No safety
Mercedes – Expensive
BMW – High maintenance cost
Mazda – All car with same design
Ford – Bad service
Hyundai – No RV
Perodua – Milo tin with no safety.
Proton – EVERYTHING.
How ar ? Public transport also complain expensive.
Respect la.. people.
If we cannot afford a plate of lamb chop, we eat chicken rice la. The purpose is to fill our stomach. Who doesn’t love lamb chop?
Can we feel some love here on the internet? We need more positive energy !
*Peace*
Im positive bashers gonna bash u for spoiling their negativity
Love , i like your comment , hahaha
Skip this, bring in the civic coupe instead.
if no coupe
at least bring in hatchback lah
How to know wether got demand or not if not launched? Chicken egg situation. I do see Mazda 2+3 hatch around and jazz, Myvi, axia, polo hatch. So Malaysians do accept hatchback design
Honda Msia, pls bring the hatchback…its more practical compared to the sedan where the passenger seats cannot be fold down…how to bring long item/stuffs like… IKEA boxes? …the hatch will be great!
Yucks too many holes on this car body.
too many cars on the road without sufficient trunk space likes myvi, axia and Iriz.
we need trunk space…. the sedan will do just good.
Sedan can’t load cube-like stuff.
u dun even bother to bring them in how the hell u know if there’s demand or otherwise?
for the scenario in malaysia is simple.
once it is assembled in indonesia or thailand, Honda Malaysia can just import these cars to Malaysia – which under AFTA regulations cannot be subjected to import tax. This means it will not incur any additional costs to assembly and to stock parts.
C segment hatchback is getting more familiar to malaysias nowadays – beginning with Kia Spectra5 and Chevrolet Optra5 and now Ford with Focus, VW with Golf and even Proton has its Suprima S.
Toyota has its hatchback version of Corolla Altis called Auris – but unlikely will be on sale in Malaysia.
sedan can make heavy crash and still unsafety part at bonnet…if this hatchback crash,sure rear passenger gone case…crab become broken shell craby..
Still living in the 1900s, is it? Time to get out of your coconut shell & read more about modern technology from outside world.
seen u also out of date and still living 20 century?go google/facebook check…only u think this civic is much safety…
Please please please Honda, do a wagon version and bring it here. Civic Shuttle oh yeah. Just like in the 80s.
Go get Odyssey then.
Why the rear looks like chicken arse?
I’ve said it previously, hatchback and sedan of the same car generate much more discussions, comparisons and arguments than “different” hatchback and sedan riding of same platform.
Adding more engine in line up increases the target market range create a perceived premium for the larger engine.
But the main benefit of it all is that all of the sales centred around the same brand name. In this case, the ‘Civic’. USA and EU gets Civic in different form factor yet together Honda generate the same enthusiasm around the brand ‘Civic’.
There should not be Iriz, Persona, Saga; there should be the Saga available in hatchback or sedan with engine choices of 1.3l or 1.6l. There should not be a Preve and Suprima S; it should be Persona available in hatchback or sedan with engine choices of 1.6l and the new Petronas engine. Keep Persona at C and Saga at B. The Saga already demoted once (though understandable due to old Saga and Wira coexistence), it should stop there.
hi paultan and honda fan.
Adakah Honda Malaysia akan membawa Honda Civic bewarna BIRU …mcm honda city sekarang.?
terima kasih.
Bring this in please!