Honda confirms Accord for 2019
Honda Australia has ended nearly two years of intense speculation, finally revealing that the 10th-generation Accord midsize sedan will join its model lineup soon.
Honda Australia director Stephen Collins said the new model was on the horizon, despite the shrinking segment it plays in.
“Our plan with Accord is to launch it next year, most likely later next year,” he said.
“To this point, only left-hand drive is available. I can’t go into details, but we think the Accord name has been in the market for decades. It’s our flagship sedan.
“Despite that mid-size segment continuing to drop, we just think it’s an important model. It’s taken us time, but our plan is to launch it.”
Sales in the sub-$60,000 mid-sizecar segment to the end of April this year have taken a significant 25.3 percent hit, following a 19.7 percent decrease in 2017 and a smaller 1.9 percent dip in 2016.
Specifically, the Accord has sold 60 examples in the first four months of 2018, representing a 50.4 percent drop over 121 deliveries made during the same period in 2017.
This year’s segment is currently led by the Toyota Camry with 4665 units, down 25.6 percent, followed by the Mazda6 with 973 sales, down 18.2 percent, Ford Mondeo, 751, down 34.5 percent, Subaru Liberty, 602, down 23 percent, Skoda Octavia, 574, down four percent, and Volkswagen Passat, 548, down 35.2 percent, among others.
Given the latest Accord broke cover in July last year, it will be more than two years old when it hits Australian showrooms, but Mr Collins put this down to lack of appropriate production availability.
“We’d prefer to have a shorter period of time, but it’s currently not available in right-hand drive anyway. We’ll get it as soon as we can,” he said.
Australia will not be the only righthand market to import the newest Accord, with Mr Collins adding that there were other markets in Asia and ASEAN.
“I think the reality is, if we were the only market that wanted right-hand drive, it’d be touch and go,” he said.
He also confirmed Australia would ‘most likely’ import its Accord from Thailand, as the United States plant only produced left-hand-drive models.
Mr Collins said the Accord’s standard equipment list would be reflective of its positioning in Honda Australia’s wider model line-up.
“The idea is we will have it as the flagship sedan, so we’ll pack it full of features and technology,” he said.
“It’s an important nameplate, a global nameplate, although not in Japan.
“We’ve just got to make sure that we can position it, price it to sell a reasonable number of them, which we were challenged with that with the previous one.
“That’s pretty well known, so we’re working through that now.”
Available powertrains include 145kw-260nm 1.5-litre and 191kw342nm 2.0-litre turbocharged fourcylinder petrols plus a 158kw hybrid that combines a 2.0-litre Atkinsoncycle four-pot petrol with two electric motors.
The ninth-generation Accord is currently offered in VTI-L and V6L grades, priced from $43,990 and $52,590 before on-road costs respectively.
The forthcoming Accord ushers in complete exterior and interior redesigns, upgraded technology and infotainment and an expanded suite of Honda Sensing advanced driver-assist safety features.