The Honda Civic Si was not sold in the US during model years 1996-1998. It entered the market again for the 1999 and 2000 model years. After this brief hiatus, the Civic Si reappeared for 1999, available as a coupé only. With the adoption of the VTi badge in Europe and the SiR and Type R badges in Asia for the sports variants of Civics, the Si became primarily a US-specific badge, a branding trend that would continue in subsequent Civic generations. This (and the subsequent) generation of sporti