The Honda Accord is celebrating its 50th birthday today, June 9, and like many 50-year-olds, it’s about to make some changes to its looks and some improvements to what’s underneath. Call it a makeover, because a new report says Honda is looking at dropping the New Balance sneakers, golf shirts, and jorts for something a little more stylish.
Sharper New Styling With 0 Series Inspiration
“Customers will see a substantially redesigned Accord that will feel like a new model,” American Honda’s head of product planning Gary Robinson told Automotive News. The “pretty major” changes will show up to dealers in the second half of next year and could also include the S+ Shift system from the Prelude coupe.
The company is seeing more buyers making a shift back from SUVs to sedans. Sticker price affordability and expensive gas get some of the credit, but Honda is also saying sedan buyers want more sportiness, and it needs to deliver on all of those.
“People who buy sedans now buy them because they love sedans,” Robinson told Automotive News. “They tend to be more oriented toward sporty designs.” That likely means a new look with a narrower grille, slimmer headlights, and sharper angular lines; something more crisp than the current soft-looking Accord.
Ironically, the new shape will take inspiration from Honda’s 0 Series electric sedan. That ultra-futuristic car was canceled earlier this year as part of the brand’s hard shift away from EVs.
S+ Shift, a simulated manual mode for hybrids that launched on the Prelude, is likely to make an appearance in the refreshed Accord. By the end of the decade, it might be the only form of transmission available in the car at all.
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