1972: a small car at the right moment
The first Civic was introduced on July 11, 1972 and sold as a 1973 model in Japan. It was a compact two and three door car with a 1,169 cc water cooled four cylinder engine, small by American standards of the day. Its timing was good: the oil crisis of 1973 sent fuel prices up, and buyers suddenly wanted cars that used less gasoline.
The CVCC engine
The bigger problem for carmakers selling in the United States was the Clean Air Act of 1970, known as the Muskie Act, which set much tighter emission limits from 1975. Honda's answer was its CVCC (Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion) engine. Honda announced the technology in 1972, and a CVCC Civic followed in 1973.
The CVCC design used a cylinder head that burned the fuel more completely, so the Civic met the 1975 EPA limits for hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide without a catalytic converter and without needing unleaded fuel. Honda says the CVCC Civic became a huge hit in both Japan and the United States. Within four years of launch, Civic production passed one million units, and the US magazine Road Test named it its 1974 Car of the Year.
Growing up, generation by generation
The second generation arrived in June 1979 as a 1980 model, and Motor Trend named the Civic its Import Car of the Year for 1980. The third generation followed in September 1983, and with it came the first Civic Si sold in the United States, a sporty three door hatchback offered from 1984. New generations arrived in September 1987, September 1991 and September 1995.
The 1995 sixth generation added the Civic GX, the first Civic to run on natural gas. The seventh generation, launched in 2000, brought the first Civic Hybrid. The eighth generation of September 2005 (the 2006 model year) won a Car of the Year award, and its North American sedans were built in East Liberty, Ohio.
The ninth generation went on sale in the United States on April 20, 2011, and the tenth generation sedan was unveiled in September 2015. The tenth generation hatchback also brought the first Type R sold in North America, around 2017. The current eleventh generation was revealed in June 2021 as a sedan and a hatchback, and North American sales began that same month.
The legacy
Honda had sold 16.5 million Civics by 2006 and more than 27 million through 2021. Few car names have lasted more than fifty years and eleven generations. The Civic began as a sensible answer to fuel shortages and clean air rules, and it remains one of the best known small cars in America.
Keeping a Civic going
A Civic that has had several owners is only as good as its service record. Oil, transmission fluid and brake fluid all come due by mileage or by time, whichever comes first. Badger tracks both, and the maintenance schedule reminds you before something is due. Our guide to the car maintenance schedule by mileage explains what to check and when.
