At the recent Honda Meeting 2017 event in Japan, a test mule in the shape of the current Civic has been shown to journalists with a new eight-speed Dual-Clutch Transmission.

Looking similar to the current generation Civic on sale, the test mule has its new DCT gearbox mated to the existing 1.5-litre VTEC Turbo engine. According to Paultan.org, a similar gearbox and engine pairing can be found in the Acura CDX which is only on sale in China.

Switching to the new gearbox is said to give a 15 percent improvement in power delivery and 8 percent better fuel efficiency.

Elsewhere, this prototype Civic's chassis has also been enhanced. Improvements include a more rigid rear subframe and floor that improves bending stiffness by as much as 57 percent, while torsional rigidity is up by 25 percent. Suspension, power steering and brake response settings have also been revised to make use of the additional stiffness. A 14 percent reduction in drag coefficient round up the changes.

Interestingly, the Civic will only go on sale in Japan by end July and it is unknown when the improvements to the civic will make it into production.