You Have To Get Up Very Early In The Morning If You Want To Kill The Honda Accord
Back at The Old Site, we used to call it the Sedanocalypse: the rapid erosion of the four-door sedan market as buyers flocked to crossovers, SUVs and trucks, and automakers couldn’t be more thrilled to accommodate them. After all, the car business is one of margins, and all of those larger vehicles command higher prices than sedans and small cars at generally the same cost of production. (How do you think all these car companies plan to finance their big battery EV plans? Through truck and SUV sales.) While sedans have fared somewhat better in the luxury arena—stuff like the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes E-Class always do fine, especially globally, and the Tesla Model 3 is a powerhouse—they’ve all but evaporated from the more mainstream brands. Ford doesn’t even make them anymore. I had to check to make sure Chevrolet still makes the Malibu (it does!) The Japanese and Korean brands have kept the fire burning, but sales still aren’t what they once were. But there are sedans, and then there’s the Honda Accord. (The Toyota Camry too, obviously.) It’s still a power player, even if its sales have been down in recent years, either because of demand or supply chain issues, or both. It remains a massively important car for Honda and for the market as a while. And according to Automotive News, Honda’s dealers in the U.S. are still demanding the automaker keep the sedan party going: Honda’s move with the Accord was to take it a little more upmarket. The new-for-2023 Accord not only looks great, but it also offers turbocharged and hybrid powertrains and a ton of new tech like built-in Google Assistant, Google Maps and Google Play. The last Accord was great; this new one will be even better. If Honda’s dealers are right about demand being there, this thing could go down a lot harder than most other sedans in the world. […] Woelfer expects inventory to move quickly in 2023, even as the automaker builds more vehicles. Honda has said it projects its sales to increase about 25 percent this year. [Editor’s Note: I actually think sedans aren’t going anywhere. Sure, sure, crossover SUVs are absurdly popular — far more so than sedans — but as the world electrifies and consumers begin placing more and more importance on range figures, keeping Vehicle Demand Energy Down will be key. That term, by the way, refers to the amount of energy needed to move a car down the road; if that’s high, then to get the same range as a vehicle with a significantly lower VDE, you need a bigger battery pack (or a much more efficient powertrain, which is hard to do with an EV), and a bigger battery means more cost. So, it’s better to keep VDE down so a small battery can get you farther, and you know where sedans defeat SUVs quite handily? VDE. They’re lower and sleeker. Granted, SUVs have really gained ground through aerodynamic improvements, among other things, but every mile counts when infrastructure sucks and charge times are slow. -DT].
Nissan And Renault Are Working On It
When my sister got married a few years ago, the toast I offered at her wedding implored her and her new husband not to try to have a perfect marriage. That’s because there’s no such thing; it doesn’t exist. Marriages are made of people, and people aren’t perfect. It only holds up when the parties involved work at being better and growing together over time. It seems like those crazy kids Nissan and Renault might actually make it, and for that, we’re extremely happy for them. After years of infighting—including the humiliating Carlos Ghosn scandal—the two partners in this alliance are restructuring their deal to be more on equal footing. This is a complicated story that involves a lot of moving parts, including the aforementioned Ghosn thing, the heavy involvement of the French government in partly-nationalized Renault, their different strengths in different markets, and the Japanese executives at Nissan never really loving the fact that some shots were called by foreigners part of a technically smaller company. (I don’t know where Mitsubishi nets out in this marriage analogy; maybe they have a girlfriend? Maybe it’s an open-ish thing? Hey, whatever works as long as nobody’s getting hurt.) Here’s Reuters on the latest update in terms: Why does any of this matter beyond complicated deals around shares? It’s starting to more and more as both of these global automotive giants figure out the future-technology-mobility stuff, which involves yet more complicated deals and tie-ups: EVs are generally cheaper to own and fix than their ICE counterparts. You have a battery, the body, the interior, some motors, brakes, suspension parts, electronics and… well, you get the idea. Fewer moving parts here, literally. The French company is separately working to finalise a deal with Geely and to bring Saudi Arabian state oil producer Aramco in as an investor and partner to develop gasoline engines and hybrid technologies, Reuters has reported.
I Told You Toyota’s Back, Baby
Reuters reports Toyota moved 10.5 million cars globally in 2022, marking its third straight year in a row as the world’s best-seller. That’s incredibly impressive, given the chip shortage, supply and production issues, skyrocketing prices and an uncertain global economy. Meanwhile, the Volkswagen Group—the top spot is usually occupied by one of those two companies—had its lowest sales in over a decade, Reuters reports, at 8.3 million cars, implying VW couldn’t navigate those issues (and the war in Ukraine) as well as Toyota did. But the costs to repair a Tesla are high, leading to high insurance costs, Reuters reports. There are apparently tons of written-off Model Ys out there with fewer than 10,000 miles on the odometer that insurers just didn’t want to deal with. (Side note: That means more Tesla batteries and motors for EV swaps, so hit up Copart if you want to electrify a vintage 911 or something.) This is part of why Tesla launched its own insurance arm, and it’s a rapidly growing business. But it may also be why Tesla’s supposedly working on an updated Model 3: to bring down costs and, I’d assume, repair costs as well. Musk also said “we want to minimize the cost of repairing a Tesla if it’s in a collision,” citing changes to vehicle design and software. You know, another thing Tesla could do to fix this problem is to make a version of Autopilot that won’t crash into a fucking Arby’s after just three months of ownership. Just sayin’.
The Flush
Sedans: Do you own one? Will you only buy them? What are they good for when trucks, SUVs and crossovers do provide more utility in a lot of cases? Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
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Now the Nissans were pretty tough and I saw a lot of them get sold to go overseas since the cost to repair the older models ran up pretty fast versus the book value (I would be around 50% of the value of the vehicle to declare it a total).
I got out of the auto property damage game before the Teslas came out, but I have been hearing that it is a nightmare to get parts in to fix the vehicles and some of the modules are pretty pricey in Mitchell.
First car purchase out of college, I had a beater already and so the purchase was 100% on desirability – easy choice for a two-seater sports car. The next few were commuters. I didn’t need a lot of space for stuff, only enough seats for a few people as I was still single, and wanted good fuel economy to get to and from work. Sedans they were. Family started, needed a few more seats in a 3rd row and some storage capacity. But still wanted some fun, so got a zoom-zoom SUV. Family got bigger, house got bigger, needed room for both tasks – minivan come on down.
All that to say, yes I will buy one if they fit my need again. I think they destroy SUVs when it comes to desirability, so as long as I have a larger people and stuff hauler, a sedan will probably be it.
Anyway, to me the sedan is the big practical upsize option, not the sporty downsize option.
So yeah. I do prefer a sedan. A large sedan, in fact. So much so that I booked a BMW 5 series for an upcoming trip to stay with family in Germany.
These days I drive a Prius v. Not sure what I’d be looking for if/when it’s gone, though…there’s engine issues across all years of the v that I didn’t know about (associated with the EGR system getting clogged, leading to a blown head gasket) and I don’t know any other vehicle with this excellent compromise of fuel economy and storage space. And I’m not quite at the spot to afford a good used gen 4 Prius.
Still, I wouldn’t rule out a Camry or similar. Prefer hatches, but I’d deal with a sedan. Can’t really say anything positive about them beyond fuel economy and the security of an opaque trunk, though.
Yes. A Honda Accord. It’s been a great car!
‘Will you only buy them?’
My ownership of a microvan indicates no. Sliding doors FTW!
What are they good for when trucks, SUVs and crossovers do provide more utility in a lot of cases?’
It can fit in my garage for one, even under bikes dangling from the ceiling. It also has a trunk that carries a lot of stuff completely hidden from prying eyes and FWIW locked away.
