Why the hell does Honda still make the Accord Coupe?

"TheHondaBro" (wwaveform) 01/25/2016 at 11:30 • Filed to: None

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I honestly don’t know. Toyota killed the Solara and Nissan the Altima coupe, there’s really no more market for the Accord coupe.

Something tells me it’s biting into the luxury midsize coupe segment a bit, for non-enthusiasts who want a stylish coupe but are afraid of BMW/Mercedes/Audi reliability.

BTW if Doug is reading this, consider this a Letter To Doug™.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 11:33

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It’s for people who want the looks of a coupe without any of the driving excitement that comes with a sporty RWD offering.

Anon > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 11:34

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Because everything in exsistance looks like an accord coupe!

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 11:34

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Because there is still a maket for a car that looks good, runs well, and isn’t as practical as a sedan.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Anon 01/25/2016 at 11:36

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Yeah!! Tkae that away and everything else will fade into non-existance!!

duurtlang > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 11:37

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How well do they sell?

Completely off topic, but Velgen Wheels? Velgen is Dutch for rims...

TheHondaBro > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 01/25/2016 at 11:38

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The Accord coupe is the glue that holds the universe together. Without it, everything will fall apart.

TheHondaBro > duurtlang 01/25/2016 at 11:39

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Don’t know. Honda doesn’t release sales figures for the coupe, but for the Accord in general.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 11:39

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Because they want to. And it’s Honda.

Invinciblejets > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 11:41

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Love the way they look. If they were rwd they would have massive following

TheHondaBro > Invinciblejets 01/25/2016 at 11:42

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It’ll never be RWD, but something tells me we’re gonna get an Accord Type R, based on the IndyCar safety car.

Wobbles the Mind > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 11:45

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It’s been functioning as Honda’s halo sportscar since they honestly don’t have many offerings in the US. The Civic Si was the next top “performance” model. That’s why they continue to offer it with a manual on the top trims. Plus it helps to be in a segment that is without any true competitors.

I’m more impressed they never made a convertible variant. Not even to match the Chrysler 200 Convertible, Volvo C70, or upcoming Buick Cascada. The Altima Coupe could be dropped due to the Maxima have more sport cred. Honda has nothing above the Accord and when they do make sport focused models, they tend to be 2-seaters.

TheHondaBro > Wobbles the Mind 01/25/2016 at 11:47

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A Civic convertible would sell incredibly well. Not sure about an Accord convertible though.

Noah - Now with more boost. > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 11:52

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Because the new accord sedan is gorgeous? Haha really though IDK why they’re still made; I see plenty of last gen accord coupes around but I haven’t spotted a new coupe yet.

Nobi > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 11:53

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It’s for the 20 of us that know an Accord coupe decked out with the 3.5 V6 and 6-speed manual trans is the greatest sleeper you can currently buy new.

Yes, greater than the Chevy SS, because there is no lower spec version available here.

TheHondaBro > Nobi 01/25/2016 at 12:00

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It’s amazing what today’s normal cars can do compared to 20 years ago. If you’d have told someone back then that in 20 years, an Accord can get to 60 one second faster than a Ferrari 308GTS, they’d have called you crazy.

JR1 > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 12:07

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Aren’t they actually pretty good cars? Like fun to drive and stuff?

GhostZ > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 12:08

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Because people still aren’t buying Acuras but they’ll buy a Nice “Sporty” Honda.

E92M3 > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 12:15

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Maybe they’ve absorbed the Atlima Coupe, and Solara sales since they are the only ones still in the coupe game? Civic coupe owners have to aspire for something.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 12:18

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Because it’s cool ! People complain that Honda doesn’t care about enthusiasts, but they keep making the V6 accord coupe, available with a lovely manual, even though there really isn’t a market for it. If I wouldn’t have bought my S600 i’d be driving a accord V6 coupe with a stick.

Wobbles the Mind > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 12:20

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I think now that the Civic is back to being the benchmark, plus the sizing, we may lose the Accord Coupe in favor of really pushing the Civic Coupe to cover both it’s current market and the upper performance variants as the supplement for former Accord Coupe buyers. I can also see the Accord Sedan getting a more slopped roofline to cut the difference between both body variants. We’ll see by the end of the decade.

Maybe Acura will get a TLX Coupe. A Civic Coupe, TLX Coupe, and slightly more stylish Accord Sedan would be the most beneficial business strategy for American Honda.

-this space for rent- > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 12:21

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I saw two of them on the road at lunch today, so someone is buying them.

That's gonna leave a mark! > Nobi 01/25/2016 at 12:37

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Yes I did not see the Civic with the V6 but the Accord coupe the 278 hp V6 is an option. At 700 lbs more I would still go for it vs the Civic.

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 12:41

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Because it is a beacon of hope for a more performance orientated futre

TheHondaBro > Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras 01/25/2016 at 12:45

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For a moment I thought you typed “bacon of hope” and I got excited.

PS9 > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 12:58

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Honda doesn’t breakdown coupe v. sedan sales, but the Accord was the second best selling car last year at 355k. If the breakdown is something really small - lets say 10% - then that would put the accord coupe in Fourth place among all sporty coupes in the US at 35k.

So how come the Solara is dead and no one really makes this sort of car anymore besides Honda? Well, the Accord coupe is really, exactly that; an Accord that comes with two doors instead of four. The parts bin commonality between these two cars must be very high (read: cheap for honda to build, even if the breakdown is really tiny. Margin). The Camry coupe very slowly tried to become it’s own thing with Solara. Fewer common parts = less subsidization factor from the sedans sales. At the end it had to stand on it’s own as a product and couldn’t, so they killed it. That doesn’t explain why no one else makes this, but looking at the coupe market, it’s not hard to see why.

Mazda doesn’t like building coupes unless they’re bespoke sports cars. Miata, RX, you get the idea.

Mitsu might be down for the count in the US. But even when they were up, their sports cars always came with 4 doors. The only exceptions - the Mirage, 3000GT, and the non-US FTO - weren’t sedan offshoots.

Nissan kinda follows mitsu here; the Z cars, GT-R, and never-release mid engine NSX competitor were all bespoke. Infinity gives you a two door sedan, but that’s more about miming the Europeans than exploiting the parts bin for a margin boost.

American brands have spend the last 50 years or so associating two doors with RWD muscle car performance. A FWD two door offshoot of a four door FWD sedan doesn’t work with that formula for obvious reasons.

A price bracket or two away, the Europeans will give you all the sedan-based coupes you want. This is less trying to boost margin by using a common parts bin and a few model specific parts to create an offshoot and more about satisfying the very specific demands of the well heeled clientele, though. The Accord doesn’t really play the game this way.

The Italians want you to buy a Fiat. Or leave and send someone who isn’t poor.

To end, the entire coupe market in the US is something like 350k cars. 10% is not a bad grab for a car that is mostly another car in parts and only exists because that other car sells so well. I’d make the Accord Coupe too if I were Honda.

Manny05x > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 12:58

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Accord coupe is sexy I always liked them.

TheHondaBro > PS9 01/25/2016 at 13:04

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But you forgot to factor in the Altima coupe, which was basically the Accord coupe for the Altima sedan, but a couple of years ago it was discontinued.

TheHondaBro > Manny05x 01/25/2016 at 13:05

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They look pretty nice.

Nobi > That's gonna leave a mark! 01/25/2016 at 13:24

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The Civic isn’t made(yet) with a V6. Having driven the regular and high end versions of both the Civic and Accord, I would take the Accord as well. Not only can you fit full sized humans in the back, but you don’t have the boy racer, flat brimmed hat, black ice air freshener, energy drinks bro stigma that comes as standard equipment when you buy a Civic Si.

PS9 > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 13:26

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It’s not hard to see why that happened though; for a moment there, you could have had a Z car for about the same price as a V6 Alti-coupe. That’s not really a choice at all. Then the 370z came the following year the Alti-coupe was intro’d and completely blew it out of the water. If Honda also sold a much better vehicle for the same price in the same segment, the Accord coupe would likely sell just as poorly as the Alti-coupe did.

Toby F., Manager > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 14:06

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It’s what we call a “Dog” in a BCG matrix.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 14:20

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“Toyota killed the Solara and Nissan the Altima coupe, there’s really no more market for the Accord coupe.”

Or you could say the Accord coupe has the whole semi-sporty reliable midsized sedan-based coupe market to itself now... thus no competition.

So they might as well keep selling them as long as people are buying them.

wiffleballtony > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 15:59

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Pretty sure that’s a Mustang.

TheHondaBro > wiffleballtony 01/25/2016 at 16:00

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“I like the way they look”

-wiffleballtony

wiffleballtony > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 16:02

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You can engrave it.

Darkwrangler > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 01/25/2016 at 16:30

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This exactly. My first two cars were Accord coupes. One was given to me, and then I ran out and bought a newer model several years later. I was straight out of college, wanted a reliable vehicle that I could stand the looks of, but didn’t need a sedan. I loved my coupes.

ranwhenparked > TheHondaBro 01/25/2016 at 19:04

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Because, even though its a niche market, its a niche market that they have totally to themselves. The Accord Coupe has literally no direct competition anymore. The market segment clearly isn’t big enough to sustain three or four competitors, but it is still profitable enough to sustain one single car. Big fish in a small pond.