Honda Accord

Honda Accord
Front three-quarter view of a front-engined four-door car.
2023 Honda Accord LX (US)
Overview
ManufacturerHonda
Production1976–present
Body and chassis
ClassCompact car (1976–1989)
Mid-size car (1989–present)
Body style3-door hatchback (1976–1989)
4-door sedan (1976–present)
2-door coupé (1989–2017)
5-door station wagon (1989–2015)
LayoutFront-engine, front-wheel-drive

The Honda Accord (Japanese: ホンダ・アコード, Hepburn: Honda Akōdo, /əˈkɔːrd/), also known as the Honda Inspire (Japanese: ホンダ・インスパイア, Hepburn: Honda Insupaia) in Japan and China for certain generations, is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1976, best known for its four-door sedan variant, which has been one of the best-selling cars in the United States since 1989. The Accord nameplate has been applied to a variety of vehicles worldwide, including coupes, station wagons, hatchbacks and a Honda Crosstour crossover.

Since its initiation, Honda has offered several different car body styles and versions of the Accord, and often vehicles marketed under the Accord nameplate concurrently in different regions differ quite substantially. It debuted in 1976, as a compact hatchback, though this style only lasted through 1989, as the lineup was expanded to include a sedan, coupe, and wagon. By the sixth-generation Accord at the end of the 1990s, it evolved into an intermediate vehicle, with one basic platform but with different bodies and proportions to increase its competitiveness against its rivals in different international markets. For the eighth-generation Accord released for the North American market in 2007, Honda had again chosen to move the model further upscale and increase its size.[1] This pushed the Accord sedan from the upper limit of what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines as a mid-size car to just above the lower limit of a full-size car,[2] with the coupe still rated as a mid-size car. In 2012, the ninth-generation Accord sedan, with smaller exterior dimensions, was once again classified as a mid-size car at 119 cubic feet (3.4 m3), falling just shy of the "Large Car" classification. However, the tenth-generation Accord sedan, with similar exterior dimensions, returned to full-size car status with its combined interior space of 123 cubic feet (3.5 m3); the coupe was discontinued in 2017.

In 1982, the Accord became the first car from a Japanese manufacturer to be produced in the United States when production commenced in Marysville, Ohio at Honda's Marysville Auto Plant. The Accord has achieved considerable success, especially in the United States, where it was the best-selling Japanese car for sixteen years (1982–97), topping its class in sales in 1991 and 2001, with around ten million vehicles sold.[3] Numerous road tests, past and present, rate the Accord as one of the world's most reliable vehicles.[4] The Accord has been on the Car and Driver 10Best list a record 38 times.[5]

In 1989, the Accord was the first vehicle sold under an import brand to become the best-selling car in the United States.[6] As of 2020, the Accord has sold more than 18 million units.[7] In 2023 Honda announced the Accord would be moving production to Greensburg, Indiana to make way for EV production in Marysville, Ohio.

  1. ^ "2008 Honda Accord Review". JB car pages. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  2. ^ "2008 Honda Accord - Introduction". American Honda Motor Company (Press release). 21 August 2007. Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  3. ^ "2008 Honda Accord vs. 2007 Toyota Camry – Head to Head". Motor Trend. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  4. ^ "The 100 most reliable cars of the last decade (in order)". Gizmag.com. 21 May 2006. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
  5. ^ Siler, Steve. "2016 Honda Accord Sedan". Car and Driver. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  6. ^ "Honda Accord Beats Ford Taurus as Top Selling Car of 1989 in U.S." Deseret News. 26 January 1990. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  7. ^ "History's 10 Best Selling Cars of All Time".