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New Accord to help Honda hit 40,000-car fleet target

Date: 02 May 2008   |   Author:

New Honda Accord

Honda's new Accord is one of the three products tasked with lifting the brand's corporate volume from its current 30,000 units to 40,000 in the next three years.

In its final full year, the previous generation Accord achieved 8500 units, with the new one targeted for 10,000 in 2009, its first full year.

The addition of Honda's first diesel automatic early next year will help sales, as will the styling improvement of the new Tourer, which will account for around 40% of sales, compared with its boxy predecessor's 25%.

"If you can get a Tourer that looks good, people won't need to justify the decision," Honda's new fleet boss Graham Avent told BusinessCar.

Pointing to the improved styling, Avent said: "That's the reason a lot of people have bought the new Civic - they don't have to say 'I bought a Civic because.'. It's the politics of the company car park."

Avent said key to growth in the business car market will be "getting under the skin of corporate drivers".

"Company car drivers historically don't see us as a natural brand that comes to mind," he said, something the firm is looking to improve upon with a series of Honda Experience days around the country this summer. "You don't really need to tell people what an Accord will be like, it's just about the final push to the finish line of a purchasing decision, and that's the bit where we need to improve."

Avent also defended the Accord's CO2 emissions, which leave the car in the same BIK band as its predecessor. "The car is wider and heavier with increased power," he said.



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