Honda Accord quietly says sayonara and paalam to the Filipino market

Though the Honda Accord is a long-running name in the evergreen H badge’s line-up, its survival is waning in most markets around the world. The Philippines is yet another market that saw the Accord’s exit as Honda Cars Philippines Inc (HCPI) dropped the model from its website.

The archipelago northeast of Sabah saw its debut of the current Accord back in September 2019 with only one variant, the 1.5 EL Turbo CVT. Priced at PHP 2,228,000 (~RM 176k), the Filipino-spec Accord is similar to our local Accord 1.5 TC-P which comes with Honda Sensing as standard.

After two years on sale, HCPI has seemingly decided to drop the D-segment sedan in the Phillipines. An anonymous source told Autoindustriya that the removal of the Accord was in accordance with the company’s plan to simplify its line-up with popular models.

The void could see HCPI filling it with the all-new BR-V which was previewed at the 8th Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS) which was held over the weekend.

Also read: 2022 Honda BR-V driven in Indonesia - Is it better than the Xpander and Avanza?

That being said, another possible reason for its swift yet silent departure was due to the D-segment sedan’s shrinking market in the country. Filipino buyers are keener to buy crossovers, SUVs, and MPVs in this segment.

Also read: Now, nearly 30 percent of new cars sold in Malaysia are SUVs, up 6x from 2014

With the Accord’s exit, only the Toyota Camry and Mazda 6 are the few remaining D-segment sedans offered in the Philippines.

Speaking of the Camry, the only variant offered in the archipelago is the Camry Hybrid but despite the charm of the Toyota badge, it’s not one of the Japanese giant’s popular models in the nation with over 7,100 islands.

Also read: 2022 Toyota Camry vs Honda Accord – Will the real winner please stand up?

The Philippines isn’t the only country that saw the Accord’s exit in 2022. Japan is another market that dropped the familiar D-segment sedan but Honda has its own image issue in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Also read: Too big, too expensive, sales of USA-focused Honda CR-V and Accord to end in Japan

The current-gen Accord has been on sale since 2017 even though it was only introduced in Malaysia in February 2020. A facelift made its way to North America in late 2020 but while the Accord isn’t as popular now as it was back in the days when sedans reigned supreme, Honda Malaysia isn’t likely to drop the model like our neighbour.

Also read: 45 years and 10 generations later, we pick the best Honda Accord