Autoblog

Click above for gallery of the Euro-spec Honda Accord

Honda's Euro-spec Accord Tourer (a.k.a. wagon) has taken home the the 51st international Red Dot Award for high quality design, marking the third time that Honda has managed to win this award. Back in 2001, the S2000 brought home the trophy and in 2006, it was the current-generation Civic nabbing the honor. The Red Dot Award for design is a big deal in international circles, and while there are awards for products in 11 categories, there's only one Transportation award. Honda winning three times, including two-in-a-row, is remarkable.

While our Accord is a different animal entirely, the Euro-model Accord is available here, albeit in sedan form only, as the 2009 Acura TSX. It's amazing that an award-winning design as classy and elegantly understated as that of the European Accord could share so much in common with the polarizing lines of the redesigned 2009 Acura TSX.



[Source: Car Pages]

click above to view more spy shots of Europe's 2009 Honda Accord Tourer

In case you didn't know, the Acura TSX sold in the U.S. is basically the same car as the European version of the Honda Accord. So when we see spy shots of the old country's new Accord, we're interested because we're looking at the next TSX for us. This image was sent into us by Autoblog reader bojan with not much information, but it's clear that we're looking at the 2009 Honda Accord Tourer (wagon) for Europe. The car's shape is based on the Accord Tourer Concept that was shown by the automaker at the Frankfurt Motor Show last September. Since there's virtually no covering, we can make all those bits that Honda showed use in a series of teaser images it released late last month. It's shaping up to be one extremely sharp wagon, which we'll get to see in person next month at the Geneva Motor Show. Even though we'll get the sedan version of this car over here in the States as the next Acura TSX, the tourer model will likely remain beyond our reach and not offered in the U.S.

Click for high-res gallery of live and media pics of this sexy wagon

Although just a concept, the Honda Accord Tourer signals Honda's hopes to build a real, genuine, honest-to-goodness station wagon tourer on the Accord platform again. Honda says it plans on building something that will look a lot like this estate by the middle of next year and we hope they aren't lying. This is one of the swoopiest wagons we've seen in a while. Particularly at the rear, it has some beautiful lines that are elegant and sporty, and downright sexy. It makes us think of an Alfa Romeo, which is a good thing. This concept changes very little of the new Accord as we know it, stretching the track and width a bit to help with cargo space and handling. It will feature the 2.0- and 2.4-liter gas engines, as well as Honda's 2.2-liter diesel, as options when it goes into production, which means it will be a full all-Euro 5-compliant vehicle across the board. Honda says we'll see the final version at Geneva and we can't wait. Hopefully a U.S. version will be in the plans as well.

[Source: Honda]