Honda Accord returns to India in hybrid avatar

Honda Accord was once segment leader in India. People used to love the luxury offering from Honda till the competition became stiff and the sales started to dip sharply. The car was discontinued in 2013 and after 3 years, it has returned to the Indian market in an all-new form.

What’s new?

The 2016 Accord is an all-new vehicle that looks nothing like the older generation that was present in India. The car is in 9th generation right now comes with characteristic single block chrome grille up front. The sleek headlamp unit also house the LED Daytime Runnings Lamps.

The car gets beautiful 18-inch alloy diamond cut alloy wheels wheels. At the rear, the car gets LED tail lamps and a spoiler integrated on the boot lid. The Accord looks much sleeker than before and has a futuristic look to it. There are four colour options with the new Accord – White Orchid Pearl, Lunar Silver Metallic, Modern Steel Metallic, and crystal Black Pearl.

What’s new inside?

On the inside, the new sedan gets dual-tone black and beige theme. The dashboard gets two separate screens for the infotainment system and car status that includes engine modes and drive transmission system. The infotainment can connect to your smart phone through Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

The equipment list also offers some advanced features like active noise cancellation, remote pre-cooling and pre-heating of the cabin. There is also a passenger side camera that beams the outside view to the infotainment screen to get a better view of the road. There is cruise control, automatic dual-zone climate control and more among other features.

The powertrain

The Accord draws power from a 2.0-litre petrol engine that is capable to deliver 145 BHP of maximum power and 175 Nm of torque. In addition, there are two different electric motors, one for the front wheels and other for the rear wheels. Working with the petrol engine, the total power output is 212 BHP and claimed fuel economy of 23.1 km/l.

The Accord offers three driving modes: EV, Hybrid and Engine. In pure electric mode, the car can do up to 2 km. The hybrid mode draws power from the engine as well the electric motors. The battery draws power from the engine to charge and supply power to the motors. In Engine mode, the car behaves like a conventional petrol vehicle.

How expensive?

Honda will import the Accord as Completely Built Unit (CBU). The price tag that it carries is Rs. 37 lakh. Even though the car offers a lot of futuristic technology, it costs Rs. 6 lakh more than the main rival, the Toyota Camry Hybrid. At the current price, Accord is almost in the territory of the luxury brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi. The Accord offers a lot more features than these vehicles but will it be enough to woo the customers? Let’s wait and see!