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2018 Honda Accord charges into slumping sedan market

DETROIT - Honda on Friday revealed its newest-generation Accord, one of four re-engineered midsize sedans that Asian automakers are betting on to win market share as Detroit automakers shift focus to SUVs, crossovers, and pickup trucks. The new Accord, like rival Toyota's all-new Camry arriving this month, offers major improvements in fuel economy, technology, styling and safety. Honda declined to discuss details ahead of Friday's event in Detroit. The Accord and Camry are pillars of their manufacturers' US businesses, each selling well over 300,000 vehicles a year. In the coming months, Nissan is expected to launch a new Altima midsize sedan, and Hyundai will launch a new Sonata. Both are popular marques that will be promoted heavily. "There has been no new news on the midsize sedan side for three years, and we think this is a great opportunity to bring attention back to the segment," said Jack Hollis, Toyota's head of marketing for North America. Year to date, US passenger car sales are down 11.4 percent, and sales of midsize sedans are down 14.2 percent. Still, Americans bought 7.1 million sedans in 2016. With General Motors and Ford cutting sedan production, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles abandoning the segment, Honda and its Asian rivals could boost sales with updated models, dealers said. "They could take share from other brands, which is traditionally what happens when a new product is launched," said Pete DeLongchamps, vice president for manufacturer relations at Group 1 Automotive Inc, the third-largest US auto dealer group. "NOT FINDING A PLACE WITH CONSUMERS" The Accord for years was Honda's top-selling model in the United States. Within the past year, US sales of the Honda CR-V have eclipsed the aging Accord, and Honda has expanded production capacity for the compact crossover. Passenger-car sales have steadily declined since 2012, when they made up 51.2 percent of the US market. Sedans have sagged to a 38.1 percent share in the first half of this year. IHS Markit said US consumer loyalty to SUVs and pickup trucks has risen since 2012, but declined for sedans. The new Accord and Camry "may stem the decline," said IHS Markit's Tom Libby. "I don't think they will cause a marked reverse." Improvements to the Accord should boost sales at Galpin Honda in San Fernando, California, general manager Ed Hartoonian said.

Nissan lowers price of seven models for better search results

Intent on not eliminating itself from consideration, and adapting to the way consumers research new car purchases, Nissan has announced price discounts now in effect, indefinitely, on seven models: the Altima, Armada, Juke, Maxima, Murano, Rogue and Sentra. It was found that Nissan's price points fell outside the competitive pool when prospective buyers searched for cars based on maximum price.
The price cuts vary and depend on the equipment spec, but they range from several hundred dollars to thousands of dollars; the MSRP of the Altima drops by $580, the Sentra by $730, the Armada by $4,400. Discounts on the Murano alone range from $1,460 to $2,410. Under orders from CEO Carlos Ghosn the brand is working to raise its US market share to ten percent by 2016, from 7.9 percent currently - which includes Infiniti - and appears to be optimizing its placement every step of the way to do so.

Is the skill of rev matching being lost to computers?

If the ability to drive a vehicle equipped with a manual gearbox is becoming a lost art, then the skill of being able to match revs on downshifts is the stuff they would teach at the automotive equivalent of the Shaolin Temple. The usefulness of rev matching in street driving is limited most of the time – aside from sounding cool and impressing your friends. But out on a race track or the occasional fast, windy road, its benefits are abundantly clear. While in motion, the engine speed and wheel speed of a vehicle with a manual transmission are kept in sync when the clutch is engaged (i.e. when the clutch pedal is not being pressed down). However, when changing gear, that mechanical link is severed briefly, and the synchronization between the motor and wheels is broken. When upshifting during acceleration, this isn't much of an issue, as there's typically not a huge disparity between engine speed and wheel speed as a car accelerates. Rev-matching downshifts is the stuff they would teach at the automotive equivalent of the Shaolin Temple. But when slowing down and downshifting – as you might do when approaching a corner at a high rate of speed – that gap of time caused by the disengagement of the clutch from the engine causes the revs to drop. Without bringing up the revs somehow to help the engine speed match the wheel speed in the gear you're about to use, you'll typically get a sudden jolt when re-engaging the clutch as physics brings everything back into sync. That jolt can be a big problem when you're moving along swiftly, causing instability or even a loss of traction, particularly in rear-wheel-drive cars. So the point of rev matching is to blip the throttle simultaneously as you downshift gears in order to bring the engine speed to a closer match with the wheel speed before you re-engage the clutch in that lower gear, in turn providing a much smoother downshift. When braking is thrown in, you get heel-toe downshifting, which involves some dexterity to use all three pedals at the same time with just two feet – clutch in, slow the car while revving, clutch out. However, even if you're aware of heel-toe technique and the basic elements of how to perform a rev match, perfecting it to the point of making it useful can be difficult.