Honda discontinuing Euro Accord, no replacement in sight

fmcg_scribe

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/10/22/honda-accord-euro-discontinued-report/

Key sentence: "...the discontinuation of the Aussie car indicates an end to Honda's midsize sedan efforts in Europe, where there is no obvious replacement for the four-door and wagon models."


More links for this story:
http://www.caradvice.com.au/315157/honda-accord-euro-to-be-axed-in-2015/
http://www.inautonews.com/honda-to-pull-the-plug-on-the-euro-spec-accord-in-2015#.VEiz-fldWak
http://www.themotorreport.com.au/60088/honda-discontinuing-accord-euro-in-2015-no-replacement-coming-confirmed
http://airherald.com/new-2015-honda-accord-impresses-automaker-discontinuing-euro-model/14224/
http://www.carscoops.com/2014/10/honda-to-kill-euro-accord-next-year-no.html

micks_address

Seen that on one of the honda uk forums sites -

Honda have said they are not taking any new orders for the Accord once the current supply chain dries up - which they expect to be around May next year..

They havent said that there wont be a new Accord... but one could easily read between the lines and assume there wont be

fmcg_scribe

Indeed. The Accord seemed to be conspicuously absent from Honda's stand at the Paris motor show recently, which could be considered as an omen.

European family car segment is tricky at the moment, so perhaps Honda wants to use a different model to tackle the segment.

Poulgorm

It's a pity that the Accord is gone. Had one in 04. Great car to drive. Bullet proof reliability. Surprised it never sold well

bazz26

Not surprised really, current model is long in the tooth, not that fuel efficient compared to it's rivals and too expensive.

micks_address

bazz26 wrote: »

Not surprised really, current model is long in the tooth, not that fuel efficient compared to it's rivals and too expensive.

Sums it up quite nicely

ballooba

Will these be going cheap by any chance? I stacked the Accord Euro against Audi A4 when buying 6 odd years ago and tax was the main problem with the Honda as I would have been importing.

road_high

Shame. Honda's range is not exactly the youngest either. At a time when the likes of Hyundai seem to be launching new models every other month.
The latest Civic is just a re-hash of the 06 model.

ian87

bazz26 wrote: »

Not surprised really, current model is long in the tooth, not that fuel efficient compared to it's rivals and too expensive.

What will you recommend now to people looking for 320d/a4 alternatives now Bazz?!?

Only hopping a ball pal!

fmcg_scribe

ian87 wrote: »

What will you recommend now to people looking for 320d/a4 alternatives now Bazz?!?

Only hopping a ball pal!

A used Jaguar XE diesel (in a few years time), of course.:)

fmcg_scribe

road_high wrote: »

Shame. Honda's range is not exactly the youngest either. At a time when the likes of Hyundai seem to be launching new models every other month.
The latest Civic is just a re-hash of the 06 model.

Agreed. The Accord was a very good car back in the 1980s but things have moved on a lot since then.

Overall, Honda has a solid reputation for building reliable cars but as with many other volume car makers it has had lots of financial problems in recent years and resolving those problems has probably cause the company to take its eye off the ball with respect to developing new models.

Gordy6040

Sad but not unexpected. Personally, I always rated them highly as a solid 2nd hand choice. Not cheap enough for a fleet car and doesn't carry the prestige of a german....pity.

micks_address

road_high wrote: »

Shame. Honda's range is not exactly the youngest either. At a time when the likes of Hyundai seem to be launching new models every other month.
The latest Civic is just a re-hash of the 06 model.

I'd disagree slightly with the Civic - i think because it sells quite well in the Uk at least that Honda have put more into it.. so you have the 1.6 diesel engine which has one of the best real mpg figures out there..

I seen a stat recently though that the Astra sells 4 times as many units than the Civic in europe.

The Accord suffered cause it was built in Japan and the currency markets made it costly for Honda to import to the Uk/Ireland market.

If you take something like the Civic Tourer in a top spec you are looking at almost 32k here.. my neighbour has just done a deal for a top spec Skoda 170 bhp Superb for 36k... the superb is a heck of a lot more car for 4k more..

Its hard to Justify buying a new honda.. i went to the uk honda site recently and they offer 0% finance, 5 years warranty and 5 years servicing/roadside assist (555 pounds)... nothing remotely the same here.. here you buy honda cause you feel that it has 'something' that other car makers dont.. thats getting harder and harder to quantify... i think most new cars now are reasonably trouble free.. or at least will come with a 3 year if not more warranty so even if they do give trouble it wont cost you..

Zubeneschamali

In this size, SUVs and premium saloons are selling in Europe, other stuff isn't.

Alfa did not replace the 159, Renault pulled the right-hand-drive Laguna, here goes the Accord, the Avensis will be next.

bazz26

I think the new Mazda 6 has kind of spiritually taking over where the Accord used to be sitting in the Irish market at least. The new 6 is a cut above the likes of an Avensis at Mazda seem to be pitching the higher spec models as an alternative to an entry level junior exec premium model.