Today’s exciting instalment in Honda Europe’s interminable drip feed of new Civic hatchback teasers, rivalled only by that of Kia for the Soul, is a new taillight, apparently designed to smooth airflow around sides and tail.

It also shows the return of a rear wiper/washer system, absent from the outgoing model.

Honda has had a drubbing from the US press over the design and materials quality of the Civic sedan launched there earlier this year; no details or photos have yet been released of the Eurohatch dashboard.

Nor is there news of replacement of the automated manual with a ‘proper’ automatic, perhaps like the torque converter CVT introduced with the recent Jazz (Fit) midlife update for Europe.