2013 Honda Concept C and S debut in Beijing

In the past, we were not big fans of Honda's styling direction. It's no secret. Say...five years (at least). In fact, most of the people you ask are not. Now look at Honda's sales data. They are not very good and need to be changed. Acura has accepted the plan, and the ILX, RDX and RLX concepts are proof. Now it's Honda's turn. The current Civic is performing poorly, while the rest is impressive, and MCE is preparing to help correct this.

Slated to debut within the next year is a redesign of the pivotal Accord sedan. In Beijing Honda has just taken the wraps off the Concept C and Concept S. Both are supposed to preview future production models, although they aren’t carbon copies of their production counterparts. Concept C gives us a hint at what is in store for the Accord.

We’ll get one thing out of the way first (the bad). What were they thinking with that front end? The huge center chrome bar and gigantic Honda logo just aren’t working for us. Sans these elements and the concept detailing though, we can definitely see the basis for a stylish front end design though. Don’t mess this up Honda, because the rest of the car is good. Concept C brings modern proportions to the Accord, along with some nice side sculpting. The taut lines look upscale, and the taillights are the most unique element. While they are different, it is in a good way. We hope Honda goes with something similar for the production sedan.

Concept S is next, and i, In fact, we love the front end – Honda needs to look no further for what do with the Accord. Taut, clean and still Honda. Concept S is a breath of fresh air compared to what has been coming out from the brand. The way the grille flows and everything works so well. Are you listening Honda? You have a good thing here with the Concept S. We hope it influences future models significantly.

Takanobu Ito, President and CEO of Honda, took this opportunity to announce that he will pay more attention to the Chinese market. He said that Honda is working to "further localize our development, production and parts procurement in China." Although Concept C and S are being launched in China, their impact will be seen on a global scale. Concept C slightly raised our expectations for the next Accord. The best is good; Honda needs a home run now.