Randy LeBlanc has owned a Honda Accord for greater than twenty years. A 41-year-old real-estate agent in New Orleans' suburbs, LeBlanc bought his first Accord, a used 1988 model, within the early 1990s. He replaced it with a brand-new Accord in 2001. Some 125,000 miles later, LeBlanc and his wife are searhing for another sedan.
LeBlanc says he's 90 percent sure it won't be a Honda.
He's shopped Toyota, Hyundai and Kia lately, and once I spoke with him last week, he was leaning toward Toyota. LeBlanc says Honda requires moving up too many trim levels to get features like Bluetooth, and the Accord is simply too noisy.Noise "was a knock on Honda for a way a few years now," LeBlanc asks. "It doesn't appear a priority of theirs. I don't anticipate them to be any different [someday]."
Honda rolled out standard Bluetooth for some newer models just like the redesigned CR-V. And any car with six figures at the odometer - like LeBlanc's '01 Accord - won't be silent as a library at the highway. But he has some extent. A four-cylinder Accord EX placed fifth out of eight in Cars.com's $25,000 Family Sedan Shootout two years ago, with road noise a recurring complaint. Even today's Accord requires stepping as much as the leather-clad EX-L trim for Bluetooth.
So LeBlanc will likely jump ship. He isn't the sole one: Shoppers by the thousands are choosing competitors over the Accord, once a must-drive for anyone shopping family cars.
Experts point to various reasons for this. Inventory shortages after Japan's earthquake affected sales in the course of the end of 2011. However the issues transcend inventory. The Accord's position atop the family-sedan segment - in a perpetual rivalry with the Toyota Camry - could shift if Honda doesn't chart the appropriate course.
A redesigned 2013 Accord hits dealerships this autumn. It remains under wraps, but Honda foreshadowed it in January with the Accord coupe concept. The redesign might be smaller and lighter, Honda says, with a number of crash-avoidance technology and a reprisal of the Accord Hybrid. The contest, however, is fiercer than ever. Honda must make up lost ground in lots of areas to retain owners like LeBlanc and pick up some new ones.
Falling Sales
The Camry has owned the family-car segment since 2001, when the Accord last beat it out. Honda strung together nine years at No. 2, but then hamstrung by low inventory after Japan's earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, the Accord slipped to No. 3, bested by the Camry and Nissan Altima. It took until early December for Honda to tackle inventory issues.
But sales continued to fall. The automaker threw upwards of $1,000 in dealer cash atop discount financing to maintain interest within the 5-year-old car, however the competition ratcheted up its entice match. J.D. Power and co-workers data show nearly 1 / 4 of Accord buyers cross-shop the Camry; about one in five shop the Altima. A redesigned Camry steamed into dealerships last October, and by spring, Nissan had thrown as much as $2,250 at the aging Altima's hood. It worked: Sales through March boomed 39% for the Altima and 37% at the Camry. Inside the same span, the Accord fell 8%.
Put differently, one in every 6.7 family cars sold a year ago was an Accord. Today that's fallen to around one in 10. The Accord isn't in second place anymore. It's slipped to fourth, falling behind the Ford Fusion so as to even be redesigned this year.
Accord's Share of Family Cars
Year Percent of segment Rank (cars ahead)
2007 17.5 2 (Camry)
2008 17.7 2 (Camry)
2009 17.7 2 (Camry)
2010 18.0 2 (Camry)
2011 13.6 3 (Camry, Altima)
2012 (Jan.-Mar.) 10.4 4 (Camry, Altima, Fusion)
Includes variants reported inside the same sales group (e.g., Passat CC or Camry Solara). Midsize/Family cars on this time span include the Chevrolet Malibu/Classic, Chrysler Sebring/200, Dodge Stratus/Avenger, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima, Mazda6, Mercury Milan, Mitsubishi Galant, Nissan Altima, Pontiac G6, Saturn Aura, Subaru Legacy, Suzuki Verona/Kizashi, Toyota Camry and Volkswagen Passat.
Source: Automotive News data
No Alarms Just Yet
Honda spokesman Chris Martin says the Accord's slow sales this year are "absolutely a priority, but you should examine the competitive marketplace and the truth that Camry just had a whole model change, [Hyundai] Sonata had an entire model change in 2011, [Kia] Optima had a whole model change in 2011. The [Volkswagen] Passat entered the marketplace as an exact, credible contender. So in the event you look five years ago, these kinds of people weren't playing seriously."
That means staying near the head may be harder than ever.
"You're going to be fighting for buzz with Altima and Fusion, and the remainder of the [Chevrolet] Malibus will start popping out," AutoPacific analyst Dave Sullivan said.
Martin disagrees. He says there's no "zero sum game" in sales for the segment, and the flurry of redesigns will pull new shoppers in. A rising tide, in effect, can lift all sedans.
Sales for what AutoPacific calls the Premium Midsize Segment - the Accord, Camry, Fusion, Malibu and 8 others - increases 16.3% between 2011 and 2013, with six redesigned cars fighting for pieces of that expansion, consistent with the firm. The Accord should gain 10.4% over the identical period, a percentage AutoPacific predicts the Camry and Altima to overcome. Honda will see some new buyers, nonetheless it continues to be seen whether or not they 're enough to meet the automaker.
Significant Revamp Needed
A big question revolves around exactly how different the following Accord would be considering current owners like LeBlanc are becoming disillusioned.
We've only seen the Accord coupe concept while competitors like Nissan and Ford have gone the total monty on their redesigns. The Altima and Fusion will sport impressive mileage numbers to check the brand new designs. Honda won't likely reveal mileage figures in regards to the new Accord until the day it goes on sale if previous history is any indication.
Honda has a habit of being secretive about its new models, but perhaps it'll have made an exception this year while shoppers compare the brand new Altima, new Fusion, new Malibu, Camry, Sonata and Optima before creating a purchase decision. And there's four more months before Honda plans to release the tips at the Accord. That's lots of research being done to be able to likely exclude the Accord entirely.
Civic or CR-V?
Honda stumbled with the redesigned Civic, which we've dinged for its cheap interior and subpar handling. Sales improved 19% for the nameplate through March, but that outpaced the market's increase by just 6% - and a few of it came because of dealer incentives, which a redesigned car shouldn't need. Compare it to Honda's shining star, the redesigned CR-V crossover, whose sales are up 30% with zero incentives in only as competitive a segment.
Will the subsequent Accord be a Civic or a CR-V? We'll discover q4. Honda's Martin says he's confident the 2013 Accord will put Honda "back right into a segment leadership position in lots of areas."
"We're bringing a four-cylinder engine with direct-injection and all-new CVT transmission," he said. "We're going to have an important and efficient [V-6] engine with a six-speed automatic transmission. So [the] '13 Accord goes to make some major strides in fuel economy and have content and level of technology and safety."
Honda doesn't have much choice but to make major strides if it desires to woo LeBlanc and people like him back to the Accord.
From WhatNewsToday.net
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