SPY SHOTS: Is this the 2011/12 Honda Civic?

The new 2012 Honda Civic, slated for a late 2011, early 2012 launch has been seen running uncovered in Delhi, and sporting temporary license plates. At least that’s what we think it is, and we welcome debate on this car. These shots indicate that the car could be launched a lot earlier than expected. An alert CarToq reader, Subhashish Sarkar, snapped these pictures on his way to work.

The car has some pretty distinct design changes as can be seen from the photo. The front end of the car is more pointed, like the new Honda City and has some styling elements from the Honda Insight in the way the sharp, triangular dual headlamps integrate with the grille. Though this car was completely unbadged on the exterior, there is no mistaking it for a Honda. The steering had the trademark Honda “H” on it.

In the photos the car seems slightly longer than the present Civic and the boot also seems bigger. In profile, the rising belt-line looks exactly like the present Civic, but if you look at the corners of the front doors, you’ll notice that the quarter glass has been done away with and the mirrors are now fixed on the window frame instead of on stalks on the doors like the present Civic.

The rear of the car has some inspiration from the present Accord. If you look at the photos of the boot, you will see that Honda has done away with the fighter-jet inspired dual tail-lamps and instead gone for an Accord like design, with the brake/tail-lamp assembly towards the outside with clear lens indicators wrapping around the fender, while the strip inset on the boot houses a single reverse lamp on one side and a single rear fog lamp on the other. In fact, the tail-lamps look inspired from the Audi. The lower portion of the bumper has a skirt in which there are inset reflectors.

The alloy wheels, as you can see in the spy photos,  were devoid of badging and look like the present Civic’s design. If you look closely at the interiors, you’d notice another deviation from the Civic norm, which is what has put a bug in our bonnets. The dashboard looks very Accord-like. The integrated music system can be seen and the instrument panel houses deep-set gauges, just like the new Accord. But this is not how the new Accord that was just launched looks, and it’s too short to be an Accord and too long to be a Honda City. So a safe bet is that it’s the Civic, but then…  we could be wrong. Any guesses anyone?