A new starting point for electrification of Guangqi Honda, the strongest Accord in history.
[Aika Auto’s words are powerful and original]
Accord! It has always been the most important model of Honda. Since the sixth generation Accord was introduced into domestic sales in 1999, the Accord has sold more than 3.2 million vehicles in China market. In terms of global sales, the Accord has sold more than 22 million vehicles in the 47 years since its launch. After nearly 50 years of development, the Accord has now come to the eleventh generation, and the most significant change of this generation is to replace the previous oil-mixing system with e:PHEV plug-in hybrid. With the blessing of plug-in hybrid, the eleventh generation model is also called "the strongest Accord in history". However, in the face of increasingly fierce competition in the China automobile market, can the "strongest in history" really impress consumers?
New Accord "Same Price for Oil and Electricity"
In the domestic new energy market, blending accounts for a considerable proportion. In 2022, the sales volume of new energy vehicles reached 6.887 million, accounting for 25.6% of the market. That is to say, for every four vehicles sold, one is a new energy product. Among them, the sales volume of plug-in hybrid vehicles was 1.518 million, a year-on-year increase of 1.5 times. However, among the top ten models in the sales list, the joint venture brand only occupies two seats, which can be said to be rubbed on the ground by the plug-in hybrid model of its own brand.
There is an obvious price difference between plug-in hybrid vehicles of joint venture brands and fuel vehicles. Even if there is no small discount in the later period, it is still much higher than the price of fuel vehicles. Moreover, compared with the models of independent brands, the plug-in hybrid models of joint venture brands have obvious gaps in a series of aspects, such as configuration, interior materials, power system, etc., and it is an indisputable fact that the overall lack of product competitiveness. Therefore, it is not surprising that the overall share is almost occupied by China brands.
In order to break this situation, Guangqi Honda launched the Accord e:PHEV model. Moreover, the price of the new Accord is 17.98-25.88 million yuan, which also responds to the trend of the times and joins the army of "the same price of oil and electricity". As a joint-venture medium-sized car market, there are few models that can be listed on the green brand. The change of the new Accord has put great pressure on joint-venture brands that have not yet set foot in this segment. At the same time, as an important strategic vehicle for Guangqi Honda to enter the new energy field, its initiative to change has also added more competitive chips for it to compete for the new energy track.
How strong is the "strongest accord in history"
Honda architecture new architecture
The new Accord is based on the new architecture of Honda Architecture, with obvious changes in appearance and more dynamic and elegant overall visual perception. Under this framework, the new Accord adopts the ACE-loaded body structure to strengthen the skeleton structure of the body. The use of a large number of thermoformed steel and ultra-high strength steel improves the torsional rigidity and bending rigidity of the car body, which provides a major premise for achieving a high level of ultimate performance, comfort and stability. In terms of passive safety performance, it not only adopts ACE-loaded body, but also comes standard with 10 airbags and PUH pedestrian collision protection system.
In addition, the new architecture adopts a brand-new car body architecture design concept. Even if the e:PHEV version is equipped with a large-capacity battery, it can achieve the same level of low center of gravity as the gasoline version without occupying the interior space. The design of low center of gravity ensures the driving quality with higher texture and the dynamic performance with more stability, flexibility and higher limit.
Honda Connect 4.0 Intelligent Guidance Interconnection System
For the first time, the new Accord is equipped with the newly upgraded Honda CONNECT 4.0 intelligent guidance interconnection system, which provides functions such as brand-new navigation system, personal assistance, life peace of mind service, smart phone/wearable terminal and entertainment service. Among them, the navigation system adopts Baidu map with high user usage rate in China, which can be based on the front camera of the driving recorder to realize the real navigation function and make the navigation picture more intuitive.
DMC driver’s state perception system can identify the driver’s expression according to the driver’s state camera equipped in the car, including fatigue monitoring, inattentive analysis, expression, dangerous behavior and so on. In addition, the vehicle can remotely operate and confirm the vehicle status through the smart phone, and can be linked with the smart watch. Through the voice control of the smart watch, the operation of locking/unlocking and synchronization of important notifications of the mobile phone can be realized.
In addition to Honda CONNECT 4.0 intelligent guidance interconnection system, the new Accord is also equipped with a 10.2-inch instrument panel, a 12.3-inch central control panel, an 11.5-inch HUD head-up display, a streaming rearview mirror and a cockpit environment control knob specially designed for China users, which minimizes physical keys and enables human-computer interaction in a more scientific and convenient way.
Honda sensing 360 security extrasensory
Like Honda CONNECT 4.0, this system not only upgrades the original functions, but also adds a number of configurations. Specifically, the original ACC active cruise acceleration has been increased by 40%, LKAS lane has been added with the function of following cars without white lines, the horizontal viewing angle range of the front sensor camera has been increased to about 100, the distance accuracy of the front radar has been improved by 2 times, the speed accuracy has been improved by 4 times, the angle accuracy has been improved by 2.5 times, and the alarm range of the rear radar has reached 90 meters.
The newly added configurations such as FCTW Crossing Prophet, LCCM lane-changing guard, ALCA lane-changing intelligent driving and ACC corner intelligent driving can greatly improve the safety and convenience. For example, ALCA lane-changing intelligent driving, when we lightly dial the lane-changing turn signal, as long as the system confirms that the next lane meets the requirements, it will assist the driver to operate the steering wheel to complete the lane change. Honda Parking Pilot intelligent parking assistance relies on MVC camera and radar sensor, which can carry out actions such as acceleration/braking/steering wheel/gear shifting in five situations, and realize automatic parking assistance, even if there is no crossed parking space. Parking can be completed.
The fourth generation i-MMD dual-motor hybrid system
The new 2.0L direct injection Atkinson engine adds in-cylinder direct injection technology and multi-stage fuel injection technology, integrates a 13.9 high compression ratio and high rigidity crankshaft, and greatly cools EGR and reduces friction to improve efficiency, and finally achieves the maximum thermal efficiency of 41%. E-CVT dual-motor gearbox is closely matched with PCU power density output control unit, which can output the maximum torque of 335Nm.
Accord E: The battery capacity used by PHEV reaches 17.7kWh, and the battery pack is reduced by 51% and the volume is reduced by 57%. Compared with previous PHEV models, the weight and volume are reduced by more than half, and the NEDC battery life can reach 106km. In addition, the power output of the new Accord is increased by 15%, and the size of the power output module is reduced by 40%. At the same time of high output power, it is lightweight and miniaturized, and the adjustment of power output is more linear and smooth.