Accord Euro not in Honda’s Sydney show plans
BY RON HAMMERTON | 21st Sep 2012
The reports suggested the Japanese-built “international” version of Honda’s all-new mid-sized sedan might make its first public appearance at either the Sydney show on October 18 or China’s AutoGuangzhou the following month.
Honda Australia has promised an exciting debutante on its stand at the Sydney event, which has already attracted global debuts from Lexus and Mazda.
But the company’s public relations manager Melissa Cross said the Accord Euro would not be among the cars to be shown by Honda at AIMS.
Ms Cross declined to reveal what Honda’s hero car would be in Sydney, saying Honda would make an announcement soon.
The new-generation CR-V is an almost certain starter ahead of its fourth-quarter launch, perhaps along with a Civic hatch equipped with the new i-DTEC Earth Dreams diesel engine that is about to make its first show appearance in Paris next week.
Other possibilities include the American-style Accord that is just about to go on sale in the United States, or even the upcoming plug-in hybrid Accord that was shown in prototype form at the recent American Honda Accord media launch.
The new ninth-generation Accord is scheduled to arrive in Australia around the middle of 2013, and again will be made for this market in Honda’s Thai factory.
The plug-in Accord will be built exclusively at Honda’s Sayama plant in Japan, and is under consideration for Australia alongside an Accord hybrid that probably will be built at the Thai factory alongside the conventional petrol models.
The speculation that Sydney was in the running for the world unveiling of the Accord Euro – the version that traditionally has been built for international markets preferring a smaller car with more European styling – surfaced after Honda Motor Europe told journalists it had “no immediate plans” to replace the current Accord Euro in that market.
Britain’s Just-Auto today reported that a spokesman for the company had confirmed that the mid-sized car would not be superseded by an all-new generation any time soon.
Instead, Honda will concentrate on building European sales via the new CR-V compact SUV – just launched in Europe – and the new i-DTEC diesel that is about to debut in the European-built Civic and later in CR-V. Both of those British-made diesel vehicles are destined for Australia.
However, Just-Auto writes that the international Accord will still go on sale in Japan, China, Russia – which is not regarded by Honda as Europe – and Asia-Oceania, including Australia and New Zealand.
“A car might appear at either the Sydney show in October or at AutoGuangzhou in November,” Just-Auto said.
As GoAuto reported last week, Honda Australia is still keen on its two-pronged Accord sales strategy, selling the American-conceived larger Accord and the slightly smaller Japanese-built Accord Euro side by side.
Ms Cross told us: “The Accord Euro remains an important model for Honda Australia.”Ms Cross said she could not put a time frame on the introduction of the Accord Euro, but pointed out that the model had received a facelift only last year.
The new American/Thai Accord is a significant 88mm shorter than the outgoing model, and while that is 122mm longer than the current Accord Euro, it might indicate a meeting of the models, at least under the skin.
Pictures of the Japanese-made plug-in hybrid version of the Accord released earlier this month indicate major styling differences around the nose, but the major panels look identical to the American Accord.
