Honda’s American branch shows a design sketch of a new interior. It heralds a new chapter for Honda’s interiors and it is likely that the interior of the new Civic is the first model to be drawn according to this design philosophy.
Honda explains about the new design philosophy, which it calls ‘simplicity and something’, that it must offer a good mix between ease of use and minimalism. We see a dashboard that somewhat resembles that of the brand new HR-V in terms of basic design, but just a bit slicker and with slightly more rounded shapes. It is striking that there are just three rotary knobs on it. Honda thus seems to shape the ease of use part of the philosophy by simply leaving tangible buttons for such things in the interior. The steering wheel also looks like it still has buttons, instead of touch-sensitive units with haptic feedback. Although many brands are switching to this, it has also been criticized. For example, it would be too distracting while driving, because you still miss some physical feedback.
In addition, it is striking that by contemporary standards a relatively small infotainment screen protrudes from the dashboard. This appears to be partly transparent, although it is likely that this is not the case in production cars. In front of the steering wheel you will find an apparently equally large screen for the digital clockwork.
Honda states that it has developed this new design philosophy for the models available in North America. The new Civic already shown from the outside has the scoop. It is all but out of the question that we in Europe will also find such an interior in new Hondas. The Civic is very likely to come this way again, although no formal statement has been made about that.