Honda Type R Bows Out: The Final Chapter in Europe
Three decades after the birth of the red badge, the curtain is about to fall. From 2026, Honda’s Type R will vanish from European showrooms, closing a chapter that began in 1992 with the NSX and grew into a legacy that shaped Honda’s sporting identity.
Honda’s press release recalls the model family that carried its performance DNA across generations. While the story began in Japan with a mid-engined supercar, Europe truly met the legend in 1997 with the Integra DC2. The Accord Type R followed, and then came the model that would achieve global cult status: the Civic Type R.
The Civic elevated Honda’s reputation to its peak, serving up for decades the intoxicating mix of high-revving naturally aspirated engines, manual transmissions, and suspensions tuned with the racetrack in mind. The lineage reads like an enthusiast’s chronicle: the Swindon-built EP3, the split-market FD2 and FN2, the first turbocharged FK2, the Nürburgring-record-setting FK8, and finally the FL5, marketed as “the fastest and most addictive Civic ever.”
The numbers, however, are uncompromising. In Europe, 70,000 buyers have taken delivery of a Type R, but in 2026 the line ends. The red badge will no longer shine on European roads.
Honda’s official narrative rolls out the victories—lap records at the Nürburgring, WTCC and TCR titles, countless wins in touring car racing and even rally outings. The truth, though, is more elemental: the Type R secured its place in motorsport history thanks to the nameplate itself, which transformed a family hatchback into a machine that belonged on a circuit.
If the FL5 is indeed the final European Type R, the farewell is at least fitting. With 330 horsepower, a manual gearbox, and a Nürburgring record to its name, Honda signs off the same way it began—with the conviction that a steering wheel should stir emotion, not merely deliver speed.
