Crosstour crossed off for Oz

HONDA will release a wagon-style five-door liftback version of its US-market Accord in North America in the last quarter of this year.

However, the Accord Crosstour will not be sold in Australia, as it is destined to remain a left-hand drive, American-market only proposition.

As its name suggests, the Crosstour will be a mix of established body styles, adopting SUV design cues such as a taller ride height and a more fastback roof one to fit in the crossover vehicle mould that has proven popular with American consumers in recent times.

More information will be available closer to the Crosstour’s US release date in September, but most of its running gear is expected to be modified variations of those found on the current, eighth-generation Accord sedan released in Australia almost two years ago.

This includes the 2.4-litre four-cylinder and 3.5-litre V6 petrol engines offered in Australia.

Whether the Crosstour is also made available in all-wheel drive format remains to be seen. Some pundits are predicting a variation of the Legend’s SH-AWD 4WD system.

To be made at Honda’s Marysville facility in Ohio, the Crosstour bears a likeness to the upcoming Acura ZDX crossover to be built in Ontario, Canada, but the two vehicles are said to share little in common.

Honda has not offered a five-door version of its US Accord since the demise of the sixth-generation wagon model in 1997, as the Odyssey people mover has functioned as a family wagon more effectively in Australia.

However, the smaller, Japanese-developed Accord that has run concurrently with the larger American version for 12 years has always featured a traditional wagon variant, including the Accord Euro model sold in sedan-only guise in Australia since 2003.

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