Honda is officially taking the Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) brand into the realm of OEM performance parts for on-road, off-road, and track use. The cynic in me figures that will be limited to wheels, exhaust tips, and sticker kits, but the language in the company’s announcement is thankfully more encouraging than that.
This nugget from Honda’s press release is the most interesting:
“Based on strong interest generated by the Acura Integra Type S HRC Prototype, displayed at Monterey Car Week in August 2024, HRC has decided to move forward with the creation of new lines of authentic performance parts specifically for retail consumers in North America. These new parts will leverage the technical knowledge and expertise of championship-winning HRC race engineers with the first prototypes expected to be ready as early as next year. As a hugely successful racing brand for years, HRC US is uniquely positioned to offer parts for customers to enhance the performance of their own Honda and Acura vehicles.”
The word “authentic” is kind of a murky one, but the mention of race engineers and this line from longtime Honda exec Jon Ikeda (now senior vice president of HRC USA) sounds positive:
“To be an HRC genuine part, it must meet our exacting standards, while functionally improving vehicle performance and the driving experience.”
“Functionally,” now there’s a word I like!
As Honda race fans know, HRC recently replaced Honda Performance Development (HPD), the division that formerly represented the automaker’s motorsport efforts in North America. HPD sold Civic Si and Civic Type R touring cars, but from a more mainstream consumer perspective, their accessories have been largely limited to cosmetic packages for models like the Civic and Ridgeline. Back in the day, though, they worked their magic on the underwhelming CR-Z, offering upgrades for the suspension, brakes, and clutch, and even add-ons like a limited-slip differential and supercharger to help owners turn it into the authentic hot hatch it deserved to be. That’s the kind of stuff I hope this HRC effort is teasing.
Honda’s going to have nine cars at the SEMA show coming up, including some race cars, the Integra Type S HRC prototype to showcase its on-road product ideas, and a Pilot HRC prototype to give us some ideas of what off-road parts the new performance brand might have up its sleeve. I wouldn’t expect anything as extreme as, like, solid-axle swaps. But I could see induction upgrades and tuning, coilovers, and maybe even turbo upgrade kits? And I bet we see that huge wing from the Integra concept in the catalog, soon.
There are two main reasons I’m excited about this. For one thing, any products designed to enhance people’s appreciation for cars are nice to see on the market. And for another, cars are getting harder to improve with aftermarket parts—and there’s plenty of junk out there that can actually be a downgrade from stock. Having upgrade options from the factory gives you more of a guarantee that what you’re adding will be compatible with your car’s engineering. Plus, you’ll probably be able to wrap this stuff into your car payment if you’re a loan-taker.
We don’t have any specific examples of HRC parts that will for sure be going to production, but we’ll keep you posted as soon as we know more.
Are there any super-cool obscure HPD parts we’re forgetting? Email the author at andrew.collins@thedrive.com