Honda celebrates 40 years of Accord
TORRANCE, Calif. -- Honda is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its popular midsize model, the Accord.
Four decades ago, Americans were looking forward to the summer Olympic Games (in Montreal), were gearing up to elect a new president (Jimmy Carter or Gerald Ford), and they got their first looks at the Accord (a compact three-door hatchback, not today's bigger sedan).
Since then, the Honda Accord has sold more than 12.7 million vehicles. It became the first car from a major Japanese automaker to be manufactured in the U.S., when it went into production in Marysville, Ohio, in 1982.
Honda says Accord is still staying youthful: It's the most popular midsize car with under-35 buyers for five of the past six years.
“Some vehicles age right to the grave with their buyers,” said John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda, over bites of waffles at a morning press briefing last week with reporters. “Look at how many brands have come and gone in the past 40 years.”
The secret of Accord's longevity is durability-- “not its physical durability, but the brand durability.” The Accord has been consistently reimagined and reinvented, he adds, when it comes to four elements: “Content, value, features, style.”
In an era when V-8s ruled the American landscape, the original 1976 Accord had only 68 horsepower, got 34 miles per gallon, and, in what Honda said was an industry first at the time, came with AM/FM radio as standard equipment
Today, the Accord packs up to 278 horsepower, is rated at 33 mpg on the highway in the V-6 version and has a long list of safety and other features, like offering Apple Car Play and Android Auto.
Accord lives on.