Yep, you read that right. The Civic Type R is just too dirty for Europe.
Honda announced today that the angular hatchback will not be sold after 2010 in most of Europe because it doesn't meet the Euro 5 emissions regulations that went into effect at the beginning of this year. The Type R's production facility in the U.K. will remain open, however, since there are still plenty of countries that don't adhere to the Euro 5 regulations.
This is an good reminder that mileage goals aren't the only problem facing high-performance cars these days. Although they often go hand in hand, keeping tailpipes emissions clean is just one more hurdle to manufactures who are trying to squeeze more power out of smaller and smaller engines.
yellowbal says:
10:10 AM, 08/10/10
Emissions get worse towards the higher RPM range. It's probably the same reason BMW is going away from high-revving engines.
Toyota also got rid of their high output 1.8L due to emissions.
windsor5 says:
10:12 AM, 08/10/10
Focus RS500 still legal hah take that type-R fanboyz. still cant believe that was gong to sell for 32,000 pounds thats quite a lot of money.
greenpony says:
10:24 AM, 08/10/10
And all this time Al Gore was looking for manbearpig when he should have been looking for the Type R.
hybris says:
01:14 PM, 08/10/10
So it begins. One day in Europe you will see no new AMG Mercedes, BMW M3's, Lamborghini, and Ferrari's on the road because one day the Europeans in their quest for "Clean Air" will kill these cars and turn them into a Prius.
greenpony says:
01:26 PM, 08/10/10
Hmmm... BMW MPrius... Ferrari Prius GTO... Cadillac CPriuS-V... Mercedes-Benz C18 AMG...
aznraptor says:
05:18 PM, 08/10/10
more like M-B C10 Blutec AMG
this is going to be the death of cars through legislation
greenpony says:
12:24 PM, 08/11/10
Ah, to be 1975 again.