The Honda CRZ is a compact sports hybrid that is made in Japan and it obtained rave reviews from Japanese media. It won the coveted Japan Car of the year 2010. However, recent sales figures has been best say as lukewarm as many enthusiats complained performance and hybrid should not be mutually exclusive (unless if its a Porsche 918 as we covered a few posts ago).

Therefore, Honda decided to beef up its performance by ditching the hybrid powerplant and unleashed it’s brand new turbocharged VTEC. Power will come courtesy of a turbocharged 1.6-litre unit, which should similar performance of a 2.0-litre engine, thanks to its forced induction and Honda’s i-VTEC, which should be well known to petrol heads. It could even make a debut in production form as early as the Tokyo show next December.

Buyers responded to this well which should explain why salesmen in Honda Japan will be struggling to sell the CRZ until perhaps the turbocharged version is out. Till then, Honda could regain their position as top sports compact maker as they were during the Type R days 2 decades ago.

On the other related note, during the recent Tokyo Salon motorshow, Honda did display a much souped version of the Honda CRZ  TS-1X , which has a matt black paint job and is fitted with a full body kit comprising of front and rear bumpers, beefy side skirts and a large rear wing. 18-inch rims were fitted to it, although no word about the performance figures and pricing on this car.

[SOURCE: Autocar UK, Carscoop]

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