New Honda Accord aims to take over sedan customers of Ford and Chevrolet in the U.S market
- The Chevrolet Malibu and Ford Fusion midsize sedans have traditionally been among the top 10 in the U.S. Their design has always been consensus-driven to appeal the mass market, unlike other American car brands whose designs have been more sophisticated or even aggressive. But the Chevrolet and Ford sedans eventually disappeared before the Chevrolet Malibu went back into production in November 2021.
- Their Japanese counterparts, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, benefited only slightly from the decline of the Chevrolet and Ford sedans. The new Honda Accord, unveiled this month, has a sleek, consensual design that could have come from Chevrolet or Ford. The previous Honda Accord was far less consensus-oriented.
- So we might think that Honda wants to take back Chevrolet and Ford customers, but that goal will be hard to achieve as the share of sedans in the U.S. market continues to decline and SUVs continue to grow. By 2022, SUVs will account for 55% of the U.S. market, while sedans will account for only 20%. And these sedans will mainly come from Japan, Korea and Germany.
- In 2022, the two best-selling sedans in the U.S. market are the Toyota Camry (300,000 sales) and the Honda Accord (200,000 sales). The latter is counting on its new generation to come closer to the Camry. Inovev forecasts 250,000 sales of the new Accord.