Kah sees Accord leading mid-sized Japanese saloons
It expects to sell 1,200 units in the remaining nine months of 2008
By SAMUEL EE
Spiffy: 'The Accord concept is still that of a sporty sedan but we have added luxury with a bigger cabin and bigger wheels,' says Chitoshi Yokota, Honda's large project leader in charge of the 2008 Accord. The car was launched here last weekend and is significantly bigger and more luxurious than the model it replaces.
AUTHORISED Honda distributor Kah Motor is confident that the new Honda Accord will overtake the Toyota Camry as the market leader in the mid-sized Japanese saloon category by the end of the year.
According to general manager Tan Kheng Hwee, the goal is to improve market share substantially and become the market leader by year-end.
The eighth-generation Accord was launched here last weekend and is significantly bigger and more luxurious than the car it replaces. More importantly, it is immediately available in 2.0, 2.4 and 3.5-litre engines.
The two-litre segment was dominated by the Accord in the 1990s. But later models abandoned it for bigger power plants (Honda also lost out to competitors with a bigger bodyshape). The previous-generation car did come with a two-litre unit but only midway into its model life cycle.
The Camry, with its 2.0 and 2.4-litre engines, has been Singapore's top mid- sized saloon since 2002 - the same year that Toyota became Singapore's most popular make.
That model was made in Japan but from end-2003, the production of the Camry was switched to Thailand.
Last year, authorised distributor Borneo Motors Singapore registered strong sales of 3,366 Camrys. This does not include 670 units of the domestic Japanese version of the car sold by parallel importers.
But Kah Motor believes that the Camry number was high because the Accord was not on the shopping list of prospective buyers.
It expects to sell 1,200 units in the remaining nine months of 2008, comprising an equal number of 2.0 and 2.4 models.
In addition, the target is to move 25 units of the flagship 3.5-litre V6 unit.
The Accord for Singapore continues to be sourced from Honda's Thai factory in Ayutthaya province. It still retains its overall sportiness but now has a more premium appeal, according to Chitoshi Yokota, Honda's large-project leader in charge of the 2008 model year Accord.
'The Accord concept is still that of a sporty sedan but we have added luxury with a bigger cabin and bigger wheels,' explains Mr Yokota. 'This is a new direction to offer more room with the new engines.'
The new model is the biggest in its class, with a wheelbase of 2,800 mm. It is longer, wider, taller and roomier than its two closest rivals, the Camry and Nissan Cefiro.
Its overall length also eclipses that of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series.
Mr Yokota says that the displacement of the Accord's 2.0 and 2.4-litre engines has remained the same, but their respective power ratings have increased. At the same time, fuel economy has improved by 8 per cent.
With each successive generation of Accord growing substantially in size, does this mean that the next model will be even bigger?
'At the moment, maybe not because fuel economy is the most important issue at this time,' says Mr Yokota. 'The price of oil is high, so we need to react to that.'
But if the next Accord does expand in size, he says that its weight has to be reduced to meet strict Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations in the US, Honda's main market for the Accord.
But then again, hopefully prices would be down by then. 
