New Honda Accord here in December

Better late than never? The 10th-generation Honda Accord was revealed in mid-2017 and is now, finally, about to touch down on Aussie soil.

Although pricing is yet to be confirmed, the new 2020 Honda Accord will be offered with a 1.5-litre VTEC turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine (140kW/260Nm) and a third-gen hybrid powerplant that employs two electric motors and a 2.0-litre petrol engine to deliver a feisty 158kW/315Nm.

Both engines will be paired to CVT automatics, driving the front wheels.

In the US, the 3.5-litre V6 of the previous Accord is replaced by a torquey 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine offering a healthy 185kW/370Nm and hooked up to a 10-speed auto, but this powertrain won't be offered in Australia.

Equipment levels haven't been detailed but given the Accord will be Honda Australia's flagship model it's tipped to get all the fruit, including heated and ventilated seats with 12-way power adjustment for the driver, heated rear seats and an improved infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Adaptive shock absorbers and the Honda Sensing safety suite will likely be standard. The latter includes adaptive radar cruise control, traffic sign recognition, autonomous emergency braking, road departure mitigation and a semi-autonomous low-speed following fuction designed for traffic jams.

The new model rides on a longer wheelbase and is wider than its predecessor, but is slightly shorter overall -- yet it's claimed to deliver more cabin space.

Honda Australia says the new model will go on sale in December, just in time for Christmas, but it's unlikely to deliver volume sales for the Japanese brand.

In September 2019 the outgoing Accord found just seven buyers for the month but Honda says the importance of having a high-tech flagship model in the range – and particularly one that has been on sale in Australia for more than 30 years – shouldn’t be underestimated.

"…while we don’t have large volumes in mind for this car, it is certainly one that is important to the Honda line-up," said Honda Australia director, Stephen Collins.

Although the medium car segment has been shrinking for years and is down 13.6 per cent this year, the first mainstream hybrid model in four years from Honda Australia, a one-time hybrid leader, could attract new private buyers and even steal some sales from the Toyota Camry, which holds a 60 per cent share of the segment.

"With the exception of NSX, this is the first hybrid in our local line-up since 2016 and understandably the Australian market and consumer preferences have evolved in that time, so it's great to be able to give Honda customers that option once again," said Collins.

Stay tuned for pricing, specification and fuel consumption figures for the new Honda Accord.