Honda rethinks Accord Tourer as fuel prices soar
New Honda Accord Tourer will go on sale from September 2008
Author: Robin Roberts
Published: 19 June 2008
Strongest ever predicted residual values and the current boost for petrol model sales are encouraging for the new Honda Accord, the UK importer said this week.
Now it wants to make a bigger drive into the UK corporate fleet market with the latest Accord saloons, now on sale, and Tourer versions which comes in September 2008.
With fluctuating sales of diesel models, due to higher fuel prices, Honda UK is also planning to revise its estimates of the likely split in sales as smaller businesses with user-chooser drivers are expected to increase petrol orders.
Graham Avent, manager of corporate operations cars, Honda UK believes the new Accord will be a landmark model for them in Britain and its CAP residual value has been increased by 20 per cent over the outgoing model.
First introduced to the UK 31 years ago, the Accord has never made the same impression as German marques or mass market rivals but Mr Avent believes it is now better specified and tuned for British tastes and sales will increase as a result.
There is a bewildering 49 model new Accord range, almost equally split between saloon or Tourer body styles and with 2.0 and 2.4-litre petrol or 2.2-litre diesel engines and manual or automatic transmission. Depending on specific model chosen there are four trim levels in a price range running from £19,260 to £29,260.
Last year Honda UK sold about 8,000 Accord models, predominantly saloons and 60 per cent went to fleets but in a full year for the newest eighth generation of the series it is ordering 10,000 Accords and believes a higher percentage will find their way into the hands of company car drivers and Tourer sales will rise.
Mr Avent said, “Across our models as a whole in the UK we sell about 35 per cent to fleet but we want to raise this towards 50 per cent and the new Accord will be key to this.”
“With the new Accord we have had our best ever improvement in residual value for replacing an outgoing model and the likely best selling Accord ES GT saloon has been estimated at retaining 43 per cent residual value over the usual three-year/36,000 mile period.”
“Looking at the specification on a like-for-like basis against premium German brands we are up to £7,000 cheaper with certain Accord models.”
Avent added, “We have estimated about 75 per cent of fleet sales will be diesel versions but we have seen a change in ordering and smaller business mileage users are changing to petrol and the move away from big SUVs has also given a lift to Tourer orders for drivers who want more space but not higher running costs.”
He added, “The UK corporate market last year accounted for 1.09M sales and we can be very discernable about fleets we want to go after so those with a few cars and comparatively low business mileages will be better off going into petrol models, and if we pick our customers very well it will not swamp the market with Accords and drive down residual values which does no good to anyone.”
If these results of a new survey of Uk opinions on fellow motorists is anything to go by, an old woman driving a BMW minicab on a sunday is to be avoided.
The latest Honda Accord is arguably the best value for money in the series but it’s also one of the best handling for enthusiastic drivers.
New Honda Accord Saloon and Tourer aim for traffic in premium D-sector on launch from June onwards, pitting its wits against Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Lexus IS.
The new £19,260 Honda Accord Saloon and £20,560 Tourer could seemingly pick BMW, Audi and Mercedes' pockets with its premium D-segment offerings come June.
Honda's latest storage-shifting Accord Tourer estate drums up industry interest, culminating in award-winning show of hands.
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