This was told to me by a Japanese source close to the local company, who said he expected the new car - which features wild styling not yet seen publicly - to be very competitively priced here, in keeping with Honda's intention to build market share.
In terms of styling it is expected the car may well follow closely on the Sport Concept Civic Si project which Honda American showed to the tuner market at the SEMA Motor Show in Las Vegas late last year.
The body is restyled with front and rear bumpers with carbon fibre aerodynamic enhancements.
A concept version of the Civic Type R will be officially unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March, with the production version ready for the Parish Salon in October.
Insiders say the Type R is to get a potent 144 kW 2-litre i-VTEC engine with a six-speed manual gearbox.