It was a big celebration Thursday at the Honda Marysville Auto Plant (MAP).
Honda and their associates celebrated the start of mass production of the all-new 2023 Honda Accord and the Accord Hybrid. The automaker also celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Accord being built in the Marysville plant.
Over the past five decades, the Accord has been America’s best-selling car. Since MAP began production on Nov. 1, 1982, the facility has built more than 12.5 million Accords.
Those in hand to introduce the new Accord were Jun Jayaraman, who is the plant lead at MAP, Governor Mike DeWine, and Engineering Project Leader Scott Roe.
Also recognized in the crowd were two long-time Honda associates, Rick VanGundy and Mike Rausch, who were working for Honda when the 2nd-generation of the Accord was rolled out of the plant.
“One of the things I think is pretty neat is if you look at the little grey Accord over there compared to this one here (2023), how much that car has changed over the years, and how many different vehicles we (Honda) make now here in North America when it started with that little grey Accord,” said VanGundy. “Look at all the SUVs that we make now, the hybrids. Who would have thought forty years ago that we would have a hybrid coming off of the line right here, right now? It just wasn’t in our expectations at that period of time.”
According to a Honda press release, the all-new ’23 Honda Accord will re-energize the midsize sedan segment with an elegant and sophisticated design and an available advanced hybrid-electric system that provides both a sporty, exhilarating driving experience and outstanding fuel efficiency. Accord hybrid models are positioned at the top of the 11th-generation Accord line-up and will represent about 50% of sales.
The release also stated the 11th generation will be available in six trim levels, starting with the turbocharged LX and EX and topped by the hybrid-powered Sport, EX-L, Sport-L, and Touring. With 247 lb.-ft of torque from Honda’s new 4th-generation two-motor hybrid system, the 2023 Accord hybrids are the most powerful ever.
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Congratulations Honda and MAP on forty years of the Accord.
