August 2014 August | Page 107

vehicle launch | by Tristan Wiggill Honda strikes Accord Honda South Africa has introduced its Thailand-made, ninth generation Accord sedan to the local car market. T he previous Accord won the 2009 Car of the Year title in SA, but found the going tough against the established and highly favoured German trio, if only by sales volume. Still, as of June this year, 8 297 Accords managed to find a driveway/garage/carport to call home. But, while it never threatened the German’s in the sales charts, the Accord was never marketed as a “cheap D-segment alternative”, but rather as a thinking man’s alternative, in a package where many of its niceties are not found in its rivals, unless otherwise specified - at extra cost. The Accord is Honda’s best-selling car nameplate, with the manufacturer recently celebrating the 10 millionth U.S. built Accord at Honda’s first North American car