New Honda Accord coming to Australia – with a long wait

Honda has confirmed to Chasing Cars that the next generation of Accord sedan is coming to Australia, and will be offered for sale from late 2019. The new Accord will be positioned at the upper end of the medium sedan sales segment, much like the current, outgoing vehicle. The tenth-generation Accord was launched for the United States and North America in 2017, but the question of whether Honda’s flagship would ever come to Australia was unconfirmed until now.

Priced from $43,990 plus on-road costs, the current Accord is positioned at the head of the Honda Australia range. Its sales to date in 2018 have been very slow, with just 107 sold (down 51.4 percent year-on-year), but Honda is content. Unlike main competitors such as the Toyota Camry and Mazda 6, the new generation Accord will not be ‘chasing volume’ in the declining mid-size market.

Speaking to local media at the launch of the 2019 Honda HR-V, Honda Australia director Stephen Collins said that the next Accord was a definite starter for Australia.

“The Accord full model change, we’re still planning for late 2019. We’re still trying to finalise the engine lineup and a few bits and pieces, but that’s definitely in our plan” Mr Collins said.

When questioned on why there is such a delay in getting the car to Australia, Collins explained that lack of right-hand drive (RHD) production so far is to blame.

“Essentially the delay is majorly around the lack of right-hand drive. So left-hand drive has obviously been launched in the US, but right-hand drive hasn’t gone into production. It’s not like we’re grabbing at our heels, it’s to do with right-hand drive production ability” he said.

“We won’t get it from the US, I expect that we will get it from Thailand.”

With such a delay from the model going on sale in the US, would the Australia specification Accord appear different to the American model?

“Is it the same car as the US? Yes, primarily. It’s not exactly the same, there are a few differences, but primarily it’s the same car.”

Like the ninth-generation vehicle, Honda Australia confirmed that the new Accord will be purely offered in higher-specification models.

“Our intent is for it to be very much a technological flagship, so we won’t be positioning it to compete with some of the lower-priced and higher-volume competitors in that segment. It will be a flagship.”

“Pricing we’re way too far away to talk about, but we think it needs to be the full package. That’s our intent. Pricing wise, we’ll work it out later, but we want it to be our premium flagship sedan.”

Honda offered the Accord Sport Hybrid in limited numbers in 2016, a market that the company appears keen to tackle again, confirming that a hybrid will be part of the new Accord range when it is released.

“Hybrid will definitely be part of the mix. We’re looking at that, I can’t confirm details yet, but it will be part of the mix for sure.”

On sale in North America since July 2017, the tenth-generation Honda Accord is available with three four-cylinder drivetrains – a 143kW/260Nm 1.5-litre turbo petrol, a 188kW/370Nm 2.0-litre petrol and a non-turbo 2.0-litre petrol electric motor hybrid combination. In North American markets, a CVT automatic is paired to the 1.5-litre unit and hybrid, and a 10-speed automatic on the 2.0-litre.

Measuring 4,882mm long, 1,862mm wide and 1,450mm tall, the tenth-generation Accord is 20mm longer, 13mm wider and 16mm taller than the car it replaces. It offers the full suite of Honda Sensing – autonomous emergency braking with forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning with lane keep assist and traffic sign recognition, as well as blind spot monitoring with rear traffic alert.

Stay tuned to Chasing Cars for more Honda news and reviews.