SPY PICS: The Honda Accord we may never see

After more than 30 years on sale in Australia, including 12 years of being available as two distinctly different sedans, time could be running out in Australia for the Honda Accord.

With medium passenger vehicle declining as buyers switch to SUVs and pick-ups, Honda Australia has admitted the 10th-generation Accord currently being tested in disguise in the USA may not make it Down Under.

While the new-generation vehicle is on the future model plan for Australia and potentially scheduled to be seen here as soon as 2018, that doesn’t mean it is a guaranteed starter, Honda Australia director Stephen Collins told motoring.com.au. He said the call would be made this year.

“We haven’t made any decision on the next Accord,” he said at last week’s Civic hatch launch. “We are a bit concerned about the segment. The segment is still on the decline.

“It’s a very tough segment but it’s [Accord] a nameplate that’s been in our market forever and so we are currently looking at what we do with the next one.

“It’s still in our plan; it’s how we can make it stack up. It needs to be competitive and it needs to have a clear role so it’s still in our plan for sure.

“We are just trying to work out how we positon it, how we price it, how we spec it, we are just trying to work through all that now.”

The Accord first went on sale in Australia in 1977 as a Japanese-built three-door hatch. It later became a sedan, briefly added the ‘Aerodeck’ wagon, switched its sourcing to America and then Thailand and was joined by the smaller Accord Euro between 2003 and 2015.

Only the Civic nameplate has had a longer continuous run for Honda in Australia.

The US-designed, Thai-built ninth-generation four-cylinder and V6 Accord has received some critical approval, but is these days a sales nonentity in Australia.

In 2016, just 719 Accords were sold, compared to 26,485 examples of the medium category leading Toyota Camry.

“Ten years ago that segment was 100,000 units and 50,000 units was private buyers,” said Collins.

“I think in that period it has reduced 45 per cent and 27,000 of that are now sold private and 30 to 40 per cent of them are Camrys."

If it were to get the green light for Australia, Collins said the new Accord would have to be a technology flagship for the brand.

“I think what we want it to do – I am not saying this is where we are today – is be our flagship sedan and we want to showcase our best technology in that car.

“On that basis we need to make all our numbers stack up; it delivers on technology; it delivers on performance; it delivers on styling.”

That positioning suggests a hybrid drivetrain might make a return after Honda Australia pulled out of that segment of the market in 2016.

“We haven’t made that decision at all,” Collins responded. "Maybe, maybe not … We haven’t made any decisions on drivetrains or anything like that at this point.”

Collins made it clear that a continuation of Accord wouldn’t be just green-lighted for sentimental reasons.

“We have a very loyal Accord customer base. They love Accord and we love them. But like Civic we want to expand and conquest and not just rely on current customers. Time will tell.”