It’s the peak of summer in the desert Southwest, which for most people means hiding out from the broiling sun and worshiping at the altar of air-conditioning. Conversely, the heat draws out auto engineers for the annual ritual of hot-weather testing. Where they go, spy photographers follow; so it is that we have these first images of the next-generation Honda Accord, albeit wearing a full suit of camouflage in not quite seasonally appropriate all black.
Despite the tenting, the spy pictures indicate a sleek profile with an arching roofline that merges smoothly into an aggressively sloping rear window. The fast greenhouse echoes that of the current Civic sedan and marks a departure from the more conservative shape of today’s Accord. The next Accord also will share its platform with the Civic, as Honda?like other automakers?moves toward fewer, but more flexible, vehicle architectures.
A four-cylinder engine and front-wheel drive will be mainstays of the next Accord, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see Honda throw in the towel on the V-6 model in favor of a turbo four as the uplevel engine. The powetrain of the just-reintroduced Accord hybrid likely would carry over intact.

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If the next-generation car comes as a 2018?which would follow its mid-cycle update by two years, the same as happened last time?we’d...