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FORTY YEARS The Honda Accord is celebrating its 40th anniversary in the U.S. Not only is it notable that it is a nameplate with such longevity, but for the first six months of 2016, it had U.S. market success unlike that of many other cars—as the fortunes of other midsize sedans are giving way to sales of crossovers and sport utility vehicles, according to Jeff Conrad, senior vice president and general manager, Honda Division, the Accord's retail sales were up 8.7 percent compared with 2015 sales. It is worth noting that during its four decades in the U.S. market more than 12.7-milion have been sold and of that number, approximately 10.5-milllion were produced in North America. The first Accord manufac- tured in America came off the line in Ohio at the Marysville Auto Plant on November 1, 1982. Accord Endures model available in the U model available in the U.S. from model year 2005 to 2007 model year 2005 to 2007, then released a new hyb then released a new hybrid architecture, the two-m architecture, the two-motor design, in model year 20 design, in model year 2014. But that car had limited availability for a numbe availability for a number of reasons, and it disap- of reasons, and it disap- peared from the market peared from the market for a year, to be replaced for a year, to be replaced by the 2017 Accord Hybr by the 2017 Accord Hybrid, a hybrid that offers a ne a hybrid that offers a new take on the two-motor hybri on the two-motor hybrid system and which will, Jeff Con and which will, Jeff Conrad, senior vice president and general manager president and general manager of Honda Division, of president and general manager of Honda Division, Honda president and general manager of Honda Division, Division, president and general manager of Honda Division, believes have double the annual sales of the previous model (there were 14,000 of that car; Conrad says that by building the cars in a plant in Sayama, Japan, rather than in the U.S., there will be greater availability). So one of the ways that "Fun" is being realized in the 2017 model is increasing the overall horsepower of the system by 16, to 212 hp. That said, this is still a hybrid and fuel economy still matters, so that has been improved, as well. Based on the new EPA fuel economy calculation methodology for 2017 By 2030 up to two-thirds of Honda's global sales will consist of electrified vehicles. Layout of the Accord Hybrid powertrain system. There is a 2.0- liter Atkinson cycle engine that works with a two-motor hybrid system, with one working as a generator and the other a drive motor. The total system horsepower is 212 @ 6,200 rpm. vehicles, the Accord Hybrid has ratings of 49 mpg city, 47 mpg highway and 48 mpg combined. While those numbers don't look as good as the numbers for the 2014 Accord Hybrid, it turns out that were that car to be tested under the new regime its numbers would have been 48/45/47 mpg rather than the 50/45/47 mpg that the car was stickered at. According to Honda the 2017 Accord Hybrid bests its model year 2017 segment competitors including the Ford Fusion Hybrid, the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and the Camry Hybrid. Putting that horsepower to use in terms of "Fun" resulted in changes to the steering and suspension of the Accord, such as deploying high-performance amplitude reactive dampers as well as putting new operation logic into the electric power steering system (called "Angular Velocity Feedback") that helps provide precise, stable and quick response as needed, depending on whether one is going down a straightaway or wending through curves. While in some regards the "Advanced" could be simply the connectivity that the Accord Hybrid offers—as in Apple CarPlay and Android Auto—as well as the Honda Sensing Suite, which is based on a suite of sensors and algorithms for functions ranging from not only keeping in one's lane but on the road itself, another way to consider "Advanced" is in the context of the powertrain system that leads to the other point on Ninomiya's list, "Environment." The system—the second generation version—is called the "Intelligent Multi-Mode Drive," or simply i-MMD. This is a two-motor setup that works in concert with the 143-hp, 40 HONDA