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High-riding styling is destined for the next generation of the Honda Accord sedan, a new prototype suggests, as part of a wave of new hybrid cars.
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Honda is poised to turn the long-running Accord sedan into a higher-riding, SUV-inspired 'fastback' to help stem a slow decline in demand for traditional four-door cars.
The Japanese car giant has revealed the Hybrid Sedan Prototype, a production-ready concept previewing an unspecified, next-generation Honda hybrid due to "go on sale within the next two years."
The prototype's footprint looks much closer to the Accord than the smaller Civic – but it is there that the similarities to the current, relatively conventional Accord end.
Insider reports in recent years have pointed to a reboot for the Accord as an SUV take on the sedan, akin to the Toyota Crown sold in the US, a high-riding luxury sibling to the Camry.
Sitting higher off the road than today's Accord, the prototype adopts a sloping roofline that integrates the sedan bootlid, plus sharper styling with smooth side surfacing, split-level LED headlights, and Honda's new badge.
Honda has toyed with the concept before, offering the Accord Crosstour in North America and China from 2009 to 2015 as a higher-riding, hatchback-styled version of the sedan.
The production version of the prototype is due on sale by this time in 2028.
It is unclear how it fits in with reports of the current Accord's life cycle being extended from 2029 to 2030, but it is possible the new, SUV-styled Accord may be sold alongside today's version for a period of time, before the latter is discontinued.
Honda Accord sales in the US, its main market, have more than halved in 10 years, from 355,557 in 2015 to 150,196 in 2025, where its Toyota Camry competitor is only down 26 per cent from 429,355 to 316,185.
The Hybrid Sedan Prototype was revealed alongside a hybrid SUV prototype for Honda's luxury Acura brand, both using the brand's next-generation vehicle platform and hybrid system.
It will make for the first all-new range of Hondas since the second half of the last decade, as the current Accord launched in the US in 2023, and in Australia in 2024, is a heavy update of its 2017 predecessor, akin to the latest Camry.
The Japanese car giant has confirmed plans to launch 15 new-generation hybrid models by 31 March 2030, the end of the 2030 Japanese financial year.
Most of these vehicles will be sold in North America – among other markets – as a "priority region" for Honda, alongside China, India and Japan.
Honda has announced a series of "large-size hybrid models" for North America in 2029, similar in size to its current Pilot large SUV, which will combine a V6 petrol engine with dual electric motors and all-wheel drive.
Next-generation Honda hybrids are targeted to offer 10 per cent lower fuel consumption than the current system launched in the 2023 Accord, while reducing cost by more than 30 per cent.
An electric all-wheel-drive system will be developed, where the rear wheels are driven by an electric motor, rather than a mechanical connection to the front wheels.
The next-generation HR-V, sold in Japan as the Vezel, is due in 2028 as the debut car for a new-generation suite of advanced safety systems capable of semi-autonomous driving in urban areas, broadly akin to Tesla's Full Self-Driving Supervised.
The focus on hybrids follows Honda accepting a AUD$22 billion hit from scrapping plans for a range of new electric cars, including 0 Series models less than 18 months away from production.
It has resulted in the first annual loss for the car giant since it listed on the stock market in 1957.
"In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2030 onward, Honda will carefully assess EV demand trends and make decisions regarding investments in EVs," Honda said in a media release.
Battery production lines in the US previously earmarked for electric cars will now switch to hybrids.
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Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
