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Flying to Brazil to See the Samba
Hiroyuki Ito, who had thought the fourth generation would be the culmination, ended up taking charge all the way to the fifth-generation "Sports Civic." It was the model for the 20th year since the first generation appeared, and the target this time was the children of the customers who had bought the first generation. The body design was called the "Samba Body" and expressed vibrant motion through its whole form, with the carnival as its theme. To shape that image, Ito flew to Brazil to see real samba and grasped the Rio Carnival as a feeling. For the engine, in preparation for the coming era of fuel economy, the car carried the VTEC-E, which even used cylinder deactivation. The fifth generation won the Japan Car of the Year for the second time, and Ito's deep involvement with the Civic ended there.
