Honda begins production of new Accord in Ohio

The first mass-production version of the 2013 model year Honda Accord sedan, fully made over, rolled off an Ohio assembly line on Monday.

The 2013 Accord will go on sale at U.S. dealerships next month. The 2012 version of the Accord is the second-biggest-selling car in the United States so far this year.

The Accord has been made at the Honda plant northwest of Columbus, Ohio since 1982, when Honda became the first Japanese automaker with a U.S. plant.

Since then, more than 9 million Accord sedans have been made at the plant.

"For 30 years, the Accord has been the signature vehicle from Honda, and it remains the industry benchmark in a very competitive segment," said Hide Iwata, president and chief executive of Honda of America Manufacturing.

Honda hopes that the full makeover of the Accord will help it keep pace or outsell the likes of the Camry, Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion, Chevrolet  Malibu and Hyundai Sonata.

Sales generally spike when a model gets a makeover, and Honda expects that the ninth-generation of the Accord will follow that trend when it goes on sale next month. Sales for the current 2012 version of the Accord are up 28 percent this year.

The midsize sedan market is the most competitive in the United States. By year's end, most of the major competitors will be selling models that have been significantly updated in the past year.

Through July, five of the 11 top-selling models in the U.S. auto market were midsize sedans. And, excluding pickup trucks and SUVs, five of the top seven were midsize sedans.

The top-selling midsize through July was the Camry, updated last year, at 243,816 sold. In second was the Accord, followed closely by the Nissan Altima.

Most of those Altima sales were for its 2012 model, which is still on dealer lots, sharing space with the new 2013 Altima.

 

-Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune