Honda Introduces an Accord Buffet in New York On Wednesday, Honda introduced the 2013 Accords at Chelsea Piers, on Manhattan's West Side. The sedan and coupe were joined by the company's first plug-in hybrid. After passing a fraught 18 months that included the earthquake in northeast Japan, flooding in Thailand and unflattering reviews for the revamped Civic, Honda is back on track, recording 2012 sales of 732,165 vehicles through July in the United States, its best seven-month period since 2008. In August, Honda's American sales were up 59.5 percent compared with the same month in 2011, with 131,000 cars sold. Though the sales boost can be largely attributed to the redesigned CR-V crossover, Mike Accavitti, a marketing executive for American Honda Motor, noted the Accord was "the single most important model in our lineup." Honda has sold more than 11 million Accords on the American market since 1976, and representatives here repeatedly emphasized the importance of the 2013 model to the brand's health in North America. As noted previously by Wheels, the 2013 Accord does not represent a major styling departure, though the sedan and coupe accomplish a major hat trick, shrinking overall length and wheelbase while holding the course on interior dimensions. Rear legroom is up, and is notably good in the sedan. Once ensconced, a taller rear-seat passenger in the coupe has acceptable headroom and legroom. Honda has emphasized utility throughout the interior with clear, conventional instrumentation, comfortable seats and, breaking an industry trend toward loading every function onto touch screens, an assortment of knobs and buttons. There are enough bins, pockets and cubbies to suit a minivan. All the Accords have capacious trunks except the plug-in hybrid, which surrenders considerable space to its battery pack. Honda was keen to highlight a rather clever optional safety feature, a camera mounted below the passenger-side mirror that relays a view of the rear right flank to the 8-inch display whenever the driver signals a right turn. Knowing the purchasing tendencies of the Accord's 11 million buyers, Honda expects a new 2.4-liter i-VTEC direct-injection engine, producing 185 horsepower, to be the most popular powertrain choice. Coupled to a new continuously variable transmission, a vehicle so equipped is certified by the Environmental Protection Agency with combined fuel economy of 30 miles per gallon. Conventional 6-speed manual and automatic transmissions will also be available. Honda expects to sell about 350,000 Accords annually in the United States, with 85 percent of its sedans being equipped with the 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine and just 15 percent with the available 278-horsepower, 3.5-liter i-VTEC V-6 unit. Orders for the coupe, with its sportier mien, are expected to skew 65 percent toward the 4-cylinder engine and 35 percent for the V-6. The sedan goes on sale Sept. 19 and the coupe Oct. 15. Primary assembly of both models is to be performed in Ohio, though the plug-in hybrid, available in early 2013, is to be assembled at the company's plant in Sayama, Japan. That model arrives after the battery-powered Fit EV, reinforcing Honda's rather recent embrace of electrification. A conventional hybrid version of the Accord is also in the pipeline for the summer of 2013. The Accord Plug-in Hybrid is powered by a 2-liter Atkinson Cycle 4-cylinder engine producing up to 137 horsepower, coupled to a 124-kilowatt electric motor and a 6.7-kilowatt-hour BlueEnergy lithium-ion battery pack provided through Honda's joint venture with the GS Yuasa Corporation. Maximum output from what Honda calls the two-motor hybrid system is 196 horsepower, closely aligned with that of the Toyota Camry Hybrid. Total range is said to exceed 500 miles. Like the Toyota Prius PHV, Honda says the Accord Plug-in Hybrid would be capable of traveling 10-15 miles in purely electric mode, though the gas motor would intervene at high speeds or under significant throttle pressure. There are three driving modes. The relatively small battery pack is coupled to a 6.6-kW onboard charger that enables a complete recharge from a 240-volt outlet in under an hour. Fuel economy figures are not available, but Honda is aiming for an E.P.A. rating of more than 100 MPGe combined and a very clean emissions rating of Advanced AT-PZEV from California's Air Resources Board. The plug-in model is also positioned as a range-topper of the Accord model line, optioned up to virtually match the top-line Touring sedan, with touch screen, LEDs and safety features. Would that make it more expensive than the Prius PHV, with its manufacturer's suggested retail price of $32,760 in base form? "It would be un-Honda-like to price this new model in the stratosphere," was all Chris Naughton, a Honda spokesman, would say.