With a month remaining before the 2013 Honda Accord’s launch date, the Japanese manufacturer has increased sales forecasts for the 2012 calendar year by 25 percent.
According to Honda America vice president for marketing Mike Accaviti, “The general market is a little bit stronger than we anticipated, and the acceptance of our new products is really exceeding our expectations.” Vehicles such as the 2013 Honda CR-V and Honda Civic have benefited from increased projections – both models are expected to sell a combined 1.3 million units in 2012. Accaviti stressed that the carmaker has been posting its “best results since 2007 and 2008”, or the years immediately following the worldwide economic crisis. Global economic problems and the Japanese tsunami and earthquake of 2011 contributed to sluggish sales for Honda, a slump the company is confident from recovering from.
As if the 2013 Honda Accord’s launch isn’t enough, the Civic and CR-V have been especially motivated sellers – the two combined to make up almost 50 percent of the 732,165 vehicles sold in the month of July. The CR-V’s previous sales record was in 2007, when the crossover sold 219,160 for the entirety of that year. It’s quite likely that the CR-V will be able to dethrone the established leader in its class, the Ford Escape.
The 2013 Accord will be the ninth-generation version of the popular midsize sedan when it arrives at car dealerships in September. Last week, production had begun on the new Accord, an event that coincided with the 30th anniversary of Honda’s auto plant in Marysville, Ohio. Compared to the 2012 Honda Accord, the 2013 iteration is expected to b an improvement in several areas, primarily in fuel economy. This would be driven by the introduction of Honda’s “Earth Dreams” engine-transmission combos, which will introduce CVT, or continuous variable transmission technology to the Accord.
