The Japanese company announced that it will debut the 2012 Honda Accord, both in sedan and tourer body styles at this year’s Geneva Motor Show.
The 2012 Honda Accord will benefit from a series of revised exterior features, as well as improvements in terms of handling and ride quality.
Lowered consumption and emissions have also been addresses as the 2012 Honda Accord will become available with a new 2.2 150 PS i-DTEC engine which promises CO2 levels of 138 grams per Km.
On the European market the automaker is already offering the Honda Accord Type S model , which packs 180 PS an which benefits from a series of unique touches, like a dark chrome finish for the rear licence plate, exclusive half leather seats in dark grey finish,a metal look finish for the hand brake, gear lever surround, steering wheel garnish and door inlays plus red illumination of the footwells when the headlights are on.
The 2012 Honda Accord will go on sale across Europe in April, with pricing expected to be announced as we get closer to that date.
Honda press release :
The revised Honda Accord sedan and Tourer models will make their debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March. Both cars receive a host of changes with the styling, emissions, ride and handling all enhanced for 2011.
Summary of Changes:
• Revised exterior styling
• Detail changes to interior finishes
• Improvements to emissions and economy on all engines
• 138 g/km 2.2 i-DTEC introduced
• Ride and handling improvements for all models
• Auto High-Beam Support System and Active Cornering Lights debut on Accord
• 180 PS Type S model now available across Europe with bespoke interior and exterior styling
Exterior Design
Both the sedan and Tourer have benefitted from small but noticeable changes to the head lights and bumpers to complement the changes under the skin. The head lights have been given a cleaner, crisper appearance with the previously amber indicators now in a clear finish. On top grade cars the lights are now bi-xenon and feature Active Cornering Lights to improve night time visibility. The grille has been subtly remodelled with the two central spars finished in the same chrome material as the outer grille, for a sportier look. The cooling duct and fog light recesses on all models have been re-profiled with the taper of these areas given a more aggressive line, giving the car a more planted appearance.
The rear of the sedan model has been subtly enhanced with the rear lights having a light red finish for the reversing light and indicators to match that of the fog light, giving a balance to the rear styling. The exclusive
styling of the sedan is rounded off with a light chrome garnish above the rear licence plate on most models and a dark chrome finish on Type S grade cars. The new exterior design cues are finished off with three new colours consisting of Alabaster Silver, Graphite Lustre and Celestial Blue Pearl added to the line up.
Interior Design
The exterior styling changes have been complemented by a number of subtle changes to the interior with most grades having new seat materials and door linings, changing the ambience of the cabin. Type S models have exclusive half leather, seats in a dark grey finish and a black head lining to further distinguish the top grade. The metal-look finish interior trim that covers the hand brake, gear lever surround, steering wheel garnish, door inlays, with a red background and sweeps up across the centre of the dash is now in a darker hue, to complement the new interior fabrics. The footwells of the majority of models are now illuminated blue if the headlights are on and red on Type S models.
Fuel Economy and Emission Improvements
The refined 2.2 litre 150 PS i-DTEC diesel engine has had internal frictional losses reduced to improve fuel economy and emissions. The result of these changes is an 9 g/km drop in CO2 emissions for the sedan with the 6-speed manual transmission and an 11 g/km reduction for the automatic variant. These internal changes have been combined with a host of underbody aerodynamic aids, including a larger front air dam, underfloor and a rear subframe cover Honda’s engineers have also put effort into reducing the frictional losses in the wheels and tyres with low friction wheel bearings and reduced rolling resistance tyres. Accords equipped with Automatic transmission have also benefitted from minimised frictional losses in the gearbox and optimised ratios to improve economy and emissions.
Quieter Cabin
The already impressive
NVH performance of the current Accord has been further improved with the
adoption of higher density foam in the under bonnet and dashboard
areas. The underfloor noise insulation has also been revised and teamed
with additional sound deadening shields on the DPF and exhaust manifold
cover of the diesel engine. The suite of noise reductions techniques is
completed with a small 0.9 mm increase in the thickness of the rear
window glass, improving the rear passenger experience.
Chassis
Engineers
from Japan worked with their counterparts in Germany and the UK to
further refine the dampers of the Accord Tourer and sedan for the vast
range of road conditions found in Europe. Detailed refinement of the
dual mode dampers has given improvement in both high speed stability for
highway driving and a significant improvement in ride quality, even
over poor road surfaces.
Active Cornering Lights
One
of the most visible changes to the top of the range Accords is the
addition of Active Cornering Lights, which provide enhanced illumination
when the vehicle is turning. Additional lights units have been subtly
integrated into the existing lights units, casting all of their light to
the side of the vehicle to help the driver in low visibility
conditions. The light unit on the relevant side will be illuminated when
the driver activates the indicators in that direction or turns the
steering wheel more than 90 degrees. When the vehicle is in reverse,
both lights will be activated to give a good view to either side of the
driver.
High-Beam Support System
Another new
lighting technology for Honda is the High Beam Support system, which is
fitted on vehicles with the bi-xenon headlights. This system is
controlled by a CMOS camera fitted to the windscreen in the area of the
driver rear view mirror. The camera detects oncoming headlights or the
taillights of a vehicle in front and automatically dips the headlights
onto their normal setting if they are on high-beam. This allows the
driver to fully concentrate on the road conditions, without having to
manually control the high-beam setting.
The new Accord goes on sale across Europe from April this year.
