IF WHAT Auto Express says is true, then what you’re looking at is the all-new 2010 European-market Honda Civic.

Up front there’s a much pointier snout (which apes that of the Honda OSM show car) and a vaguely Scirocco-ish front airdam. The sides feature pronounced rear fenders and a high shoulderline, while out back the bifurcated rear window of the current Euro-spec Civic has been deleted to improve rearward visibility.

Like the present model, if this car makes it into production, there will likely be two bodystyles on offer: a three-door hatch, and a more practical five-door.

Engines are also guesswork, but likely to be derivatives of the current line-up, however a hybrid powertrain could also be added to the range. A Type R version powered by Honda’s familiar 148kW K20 iVTEC inline-four will likely also be offered.

It’s lean, mean and very sporty, and should go down a treat with the younger demographic that Honda intends to target with this new model.

However there’s one question that must be asked: are these pictures just speculative renderings?

We haven’t heard a peep from Honda about the next generation of Civic, and there’s nothing on its various press websites that looks even close to these images.

Our conclusion? These pics sure are cool to look at but until we get further confirmation from the Big H we’ll take these images with a few grains of salt.

[Auto Express]