Honda brings the curtain down on the Accord in India

Honda has axed its flagship sedan the Accord in India, it has been discontinued owing to low demand. According to a report in Economic Times, this news was confirmed by Mr.Jnaneshwar Sen, senior vice-president for marketing and sales at Honda Cars India.  

In the past, Honda phased out the Jazz hatchback and the Civic sedan; this will be third model to be discontinued by the Japanese car maker in India. Honda introduced the eighth generation Accord in 2008 and sold only 11,492 units so far. In the initial eight months of this fiscal year, the Accord sold just 272 units, the average sales in a month works out to 34 cars. Skoda superb the main competitor of the Accord sold a little less than 1,000 units in the same time frame. 

The D-segment in India has seen the numbers dwindling; but some cars are doing well, despite the negative trend in the segment. Honda’s reluctance to offer a Diesel engine has hampered the sales of the Accord in a big way. Mr.Sen also said the next generation Accord will make it to India, but did not disclose anymore details. 

Honda’s Noida plant is running close to full capacity owing to high demand for the Amaze sedan. On the other hand the new City will be launched in January next year; this will make it difficult for the Japanese car maker to strike a balance between demand and supply. The second plant will be operational by March 2014, until then Honda will look to maximize production of models in demand. This could also have been a major factor in Honda stopping the Accord’s production.