pp 14-15, January 2007 Mag-X

Sports4 Concept

This scan from the January 2007 issue of Japanese scoop mag Mag-X comes to us via one of our fans in Korea who goes by the alias 'G35_wannabe' and who also happens to be employed by a subsidiary of Renault-Nissan. In his e-mail, Mr _wannabe tells me that beyond the forward looking sketch, the article reveals very little about the next generation Accord/TSX. The only semi-firm information to be gleaned is that the Accord will debut in October 2007, it will bear a 2.5L I-4, and Mag-X says it will measure 4600mm (181.1 in.) in length, 1780mm (70.1 in.) in width, and 1750mm (69.9 in. - say what?!?) in height. Those first two dimensions compare closely to the current TSX, but that height figure is closer to that of a Hummer H3, which just can't be right. We're guessing it was just a typo and should have read 1450mm (57.1 in.)

In case you just stumbled across the TOV today, to avoid any confusion, please note that this is an unofficial sketch by a "scoop" magazine projecting what they think the Japanese-market Accord will look like. This is not an official rendering from Honda. The significance of this sketch is that we're expecting the next generation TSX to once again be based upon this model, and to this point we haven't seen much in the way of how it might look (apart from all the rumors that the Sports4 Concept was a very early peek). If this sketch is accurate (and Mag-X has a pretty good track record in this respect), it appears that Honda's designers haven't strayed too far from the Sports4 Concept that debuted at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show. The overall shape is generally intact, as are some of the key details such as the flared wheelarches. But while the Sports4 featured rectangutriagonal headlights (or are they tritangular? Either way, I think we just minted two new words!) very similar to those found on the 2007 Acura MDX, this rendering suggests that Honda may have already abandoned this design cue.

We're told that the remainder of the article is more about the Honda brand in Japan and talks about how their sedans have been selling slowly there. It is mentioned that potentially all of Honda's sedans will be moved to the Acura brand in 2008, leaving behind the SUVs, minivans, family vehicles, and minicars at Honda.

Here's how the claimed '08 Accord dimensions compare to the current US Model TSX and Accord models:

	2008 Accord (Japan) (projected)	2007 Acura TSX	2007 Accord (USA)
Length (in.)	181.1	183.4	191.1
Width (in.)	70.1	69.4	71.6
Height (in.)	57.1*	57.3	57.2
*We think this is what Mag-X meant

For the armchair new model sleuths and conspiracy theorists, some keywords of potential interest that I spotted in the text included: '4WD' (no mention of SH-AWD, however), '178', '6.6%', 'V10', and the letters 'AOA'.