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Honda's new Prelude will combine Civic hybrid and Civic Type R bits, but its price leans closer to the latter than the former.
Honda has detailed its reborn Prelude hybrid sports coupe in its home market of Japan, confirming production details like price and powertrain outputs.
Due to arrive in Australia in mid-2026, the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) Prelude wears a sticker price starting from ¥6,179,800 including taxes, or around $AU63,900 with a direct currency conversion.
For context, the Civic Type R starts from ¥4,997,300 ($AU51,700) or an identical ¥6,179,800 when optioned with the ‘Racing Black’ interior that changes the cabin to black instead of red.
This would seemingly indicate a Civic Type R-matching $79,000 drive-away price for the Prelude in Australia – or even higher – but direct market comparisons are never that simple.
For example, in Japan, the Accord is also pricier than a Civic Type R, but in Australia, the hybrid sedan is $15,000 cheaper than the hot hatch.
But the biggest clue that the Prelude will be positioned below the Civic Type R is the e:HEV hybrid powertrain.
Pairing a 2.0-litre petrol engine with two electric motors, a combined output figure of 135kW/315Nm is listed on the Japanese website.
This is identical to the potency offered by the Civic hybrid, which is priced at $49,900 and $55,900 in L and LX guise respectively.
And with the Prelude coupe adopting some suspension componentry and the front brakes from the hot hatch, the new model will likely split the difference between the Civics with $24,000 of free air between the LX and Type R.
One area where the Prelude will best the Type R, however, is efficiency, with the JDM model’s 4.24 litre per 100km consumption rating only marginally higher than the Civic hybrid’s 4.2L/100km figure – the number it has in Australia.
Honda Australia has also promised the 2026 Prelude to be a “great value package”, but without a direct competitor in the hybrid coupe market, it remains unclear exactly what ‘value’ it will bring.
Standard equipment on the Japanese car includes 19-inch wheels, paddle shifters, LED exterior lighting, leather and Alcantara front seats, a leather steering wheel with Alcantara 12 o’clock marker, dual-zone climate control, eight-speaker Bose sound system, and a 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster.
Handling multimedia duties is a 9.0-inch infotainment touchscreen, built on Google software, which has support for satellite navigation, and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto.
Honda’s Sensing active safety system suite is also included, bundling autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, traffic sign recognition, and more.
In Japan, four colours are available – white, grey, black, and red – and all come with contrasting blue exterior accents.
All exterior colours are paired with a blue and white interior, but opting the white exterior colour will also unlock a blue and black cabin option for customers.
Tung Nguyen has been in the automotive journalism industry for over a decade, cutting his teeth at various publications before finding himself at Drive in 2024. With experience in news, feature, review, and advice writing, as well as video presentation skills, Tung is a do-it-all content creator. Tung’s love of cars first started as a child watching Transformers on Saturday mornings, as well as countless hours on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo, meaning his dream car is a Nissan GT-R, with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, of course.
