Honda will remake the quintessential midsize sedan for the 2023 model year. The Japanese automaker teased the redesigned 2023 Honda Accord today with photographs showing a sharply styled front end, a new look from the rear, and a high-mounted infotainment screen. Honda also says it will have “a more responsive and fun-to-drive hybrid powertrain.”
The rest of the details, Honda says, will come in November.
It’s early for a redesign. Automakers typically redesign their cars from the wheels up about every seven years. Each year in between, they tweak the design in minor ways to keep it competitive with its peers. Often, they’ll give it a more thorough rework at the halfway point without actually starting from scratch.
The Accord on dealership lots today was all-new for the 2018 model year. But Honda has decided on a clean-sheet redesign just five years later.
Faceted Front, LED-lined Rear
The 2023 Accord will wear a more conventional grille than the current car – it’s a shield-shaped mesh design rather than the low-set horizontal bars of today’s Accord. That’s a welcome change, as this one appears to have a genuine bumper beneath, which could make repairs from minor dust-ups less costly.
A pair of angular character lines in the hood give it a faceted look, like what Acura, Honda’s luxury arm, usually builds.
In back, the look is a complete departure for Honda. It wears wide, thin LED taillights stretching almost the entire width of the car.
Google and Alexa Inside
A small glimpse of the cabin shows a high-mounted central touchscreen sitting over a single knob, which appears to control volume. It’s similar to the treatment the recently-resigned Civic and CR-V have seen. That’s a good thing. We’ve found their high position to be a safety feature. It lets the driver glance at navigation directions without looking down from the roadway.
The shot of the screen shows an Alexa app, suggesting that Amazon’s voice controls will appear. Google Assistant, Google Maps, and the Google Play store are also present.
We’ll know more in November, so stay tuned.
