The Honda Accord is the series of mid-size automobiles manufactured by Honda since
1976, and sold in most automotive markets throughout the world. The Accord became
the first Japanese car to be produced in the U.S. in 1982, when production
commenced in Marysville, Ohio at Honda's Marysville Auto Plant. It is also produced
in Guangzhou, China since the 1999 inception of the Guangzhou Honda Joint
Venture. The Accord has achieved considerable success, especially in the United
States, where it was the best-selling Japanese car for fifteen years (1982-97),
topping its class in sales in 1991 and 2001, with around ten million vehicles
sold.[1] Numerous tests, past and present count the Accord as one of the world's
most reliable vehicles.[2]
Since initiation, Honda has offered several
different body styles and versions of the Accord, and often vehicles marketed
under the Accord nameplate concurrently in different regions differ quite
substantially. It debuted in 1976 as a compact hatchback, though this style only
lasted through the 1980s, as the lineup was expanded to include a sedan, coupe,
and wagon. By the Accord's sixth generation in the 1990s, it evolved into an
intermediate vehicle, with one basic platform but with different bodies and proportions
to increase its competitiveness against its rivals in different international
markets. For the current generation of the Accord released for the North
American market in 2008, Honda again has chosen to move the model further upscale
and increase its size. This pushed the Accord sedan from the upper limit
of what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines as a mid-size car
to just above the lower limit of a full-size car,[3] with the coupe still rated
as a mid-size car. |
