Honda Accord Coupe Is Dead, but Honda Believes Accord Coupe Buyers Will Become Accord Sedan Buyers

Honda’s probably right.

The coupe, long a staple of the American auto industry, is fading fast. Between automakers who insist on using phrases such as “four-door coupe” and “ SUV coupe” and automakers that are just plain killing off coupes and consumers who favor more practical bodystyles, one wonders how rare the bodystyle will be in 10, or even five years.

Now, the tenth-generation 2018 Honda Accord has appeared and the coupe variation we’ve known for decades is off the table. No coupe. Coupe be gone. Coupe discontinued. Coupe defunct. Coupe dead. Coupé de grâce, to thoroughly muddle the French.

Yet it’s Honda’s belief that the new sedan is enough to keep Accord Coupe buyers from straying from the fold.

“The sedan has dramatic enough styling to appeal to coupe intenders,” American Honda spokesperson Sage Marie tells Wards Auto.

And to be fair, love it or loathe it, the 2018 Honda Accord sedan’s styling is a dramatic interpretation of historic Accord design.

Of course, most of us have only seen the Accord in 2D. By the middle of next year there will be more than 300,000 of these 10th-gen Accords on American roads, a ubiquity that certainly diminishes the drama.

From a share perspective, American Honda won’t lose much if potential Accord Coupe buyers and current Accord Coupe owners veer away from the Accord. Roughly 5 percent of Accord sales were coupe-derived.

Yet 5 percent of the Accord is not nothing. Based on 345,225 total U.S. Accord sales in calendar year 2016, that’s roughly 17,200 Accord Coupe sales. For perspective, that’s not quite as common as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Audi A6; slightly more common than the BMW 2 Series, Fiat 500, and Lexus GS.

If Honda is correct, however, there won’t be a loss of 17,200 Accord Coupe sales, because those coupe buyers will value the roofline of the new Accord sedan, the Sport’s 2.0T/six-speed manual combo, and its weight loss.

More likely than not, Honda is both right and wrong. Honda will hold on to buyers who, previously, wanted an Accord and found the coupe to be the more stylish bodystyle. Honda will lose the coupe buyers who prioritized coupe design and just happened to end up with an Accord.

The good news for Honda? There’s a little thing called the Honda Civic Coupe, available in three forms, with a genuinely useable rear seat and more obviously coupe-ified styling.

As Honda clears out remaining 2017 Accord Coupe stock — there are roughly 5,000 available — Honda dealers will be happy to point customers to both the 2018 Accord sedan and another coupe inside the showroom.

Many other automakers no longer have such an offering.

[Images: Honda]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.