Kah Motor Co pulled the covers off the new Honda Accord today. With a launch price of S$160,999 with COE, it’s bigger, faster and safe than before…

SINGAPORE — You’ve seen it in the showroom, you’ve read our review, and now it’s officially official. The new Honda Accord met the press at the Ritz-Carlton hotel today, with a party for 400 invited guests and potential buyers set for this evening.

The 2019 Honda Accord is on sale in Singapore as a single model at S$160,999 with Certificate Of Entitlement. That money buys a version with 201 horsepower from a 1.5-litre turbo engine with Honda’s VTEC variable valve timing and lift system. It drives the front wheels through a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

It’s more powerful than the previous 2.4-litre model, and slightly quicker as a result. Acceleration to 100km/h now takes 9.1 seconds from standstill.

The new turbo/CVT setup is also frugal, with fuel consumption quoted at 6.4L/100km.

In our road test we found the new Accord’s acceleration smooth and responsive, with safe handling but a firm ride.

Nicholas Wong, the general manager of Kah Motor, says the Accord serves as the flagship saloon for Honda here. That being so, the Accord gets plenty in terms of equipment and features.

There’s a new 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster, and the car comes with an 8.0-inch infotainment screen with integrated navigation, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, wireless phone charging, and an eight-way adjustable electric driver’s seat.

The Honda Sensing System suite of safety equipment is also present and accounted for; it includes autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning and road departure mitigation, adaptive cruise control, 360-degree view monitor, and the Lanewatch system that uses a camera to let you see what’s lurking in the passenger-side blind spot.

The adaptive cruise control has a setting that lets the Accord follow another car at low-speed, starting and stopping automatically to take the footwork out of a heavy traffic jam.

It’s upsized where it counts, too. The wheelbase is a mammoth 55mm longer than before, which has added plenty of rear legroom, and the boot is an impressive 573 litres in size — 123 litres bigger than before.

Kan Nakaune, Assistant Large Project Leader at Honda R&D, said the car’s development team worked hard to make it more appealing to a younger generation of buyers.

Mr Nakaune highlighted a number of unseen improvements. Honda used more high-strength steel for the body (60 percent of the shell is made of the stuff now) and increased the use of adhesives, so it’s lighter than before but stiffer — it’s torsionally more rigid by 32 percent, and 24 percent stronger in terms of bending stiffness. The car is 84kg lighter overall, with a lower centre of gravity for better cornering stability.

The new Accord rolls into a market crowded with similarly large, comfortable saloon offerings, both turbocharged (like the Skoda Superb or Volkswagen Passat) and non-turbo (like the Mazda 6 or Toyota Camry).

The Accord costs more than those rivals, but Kah Motor believes it’s a strong enough product to command a premium.

“You get what you pay for. There are a lot of features that have been loaded into this,” Mr Wong told CarBuyer. “I cannot comment on competitors, but once you get into the car, you can really feel the difference.”

Want to know the whole story on the Honda Accord? There was a history wall explaining all 10 generations of the big sedan, and we’ve captured it here for you history buffs in our gallery below. 

For more launch pics, scroll to the end!