American Honda’s Marysville manufacturing operation in Ohio has begun building the new Accord, with engines supplied from the nearby Anna powertrain plant.
As is traditional, the US market is first to see the latest Accord. Likewise, there are again sedan and coupe body styles for North America. The five-door hatchback from the previous model series, the Honda Crosstour, continues to be sold as a separate model. It was originally launched as the Accord Crosstour.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The usually smaller and narrower Accord sedan for markets in Europe and Asia Pacific is yet to be seen. In fact, there are rumours which suggest that a new Accord might not even be offered in Europe due to poor sales of the current generation sedan and wagon.
The new, 2013 model year Accord is American Honda’s most important vehicle launch of recent times – the outgoing model is the second best selling mid-sized car in the US behind the Camry for the year to the end of July (but only 114 units ahead of the Altima). A hybrid sedan to come should also help the new model in its battle with the Nissan.
As well as new engines and transmissions, the ninth generation car features other novelties such as LaneWatch blind-spot display, Lane Departure Warning, and Forward Collision Warning. New technologies that are standard on all model grades in the US market include a rearview camera, Expanded View Driver’s Mirror, Bluetooth, HandsFreeLink phone interface, Multi-Information Display (i-MID), SMS text messaging function and Pandora internet radio.
Manufacturing innovations for the Marysville-built car include a one-piece instrument panel, which is claimed to reduce road noise. Making this one change required three new machines, two new welders and the installation of a special seismic floor six feet deep into the plant floor. American Honda says the latter was to eliminate vibrations which might otherwise cause variations with an ultrasonic knife used to score perforations that enable deployment of the front passenger airbag.
The powertrain facility at Anna, Ohio supplies the so-called ‘Earth Dreams’ engines and transmissions which go into the new car. A new direct injection 2.4-litre four-cylinder unit comes as standard for the 2013 Accord, with a new 3.5-litre V6 optional. This strategy is in contrast to some of American Honda’s fast-rising rivals such as Hyundai and Kia which offer turbocharged four-cylinder engines instead of V6s in the Sonata and Optima twins. There is a new CVT for the Accord 2.4, while the V6 is offered with a six-speed automatic.
Marysville has been building Accords since the start-up of production of the second generation model in November 1982. Since then, almost nine million units have been made at this factory.
Honda has seven auto plants in North America which it says have the capacity to manufacture 1.63 million vehicles annually. The company continues to state that its North American auto production capacity will reach 1.92 million units by 2014.
It is thought that the strategy of selling two Accord sedans might have been abandoned with the launch of this new, smaller model. At almost five metres from stem to stern (in V6 form), American Honda’s outgoing sedan was way too large for many buyers in other parts of the world. Its 2,800mm wheelbase contrasted with the 2,705mm for the sedan built in Japan, Thailand and China.
Author: Glenn Brooks
