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Accord: Day Abuja welcomed Beyond Discussion
By Sun News Publishing
Friday
March 14, 2008
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| Photo:
Sun News Publishing |
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When Stallion Motors (The Honda Place) unveiled the all-new
Honda Accord mid last month during the impressive and colourful
Autoline Motor Show in Lagos, auto market watchers knew that
in a matter of days it would be the turn of Abuja, which hosts
the highest number of showrooms in the business - that is
outside Lagos.
So, when the night of Wednesday, February 20 came, it was
a large number of very important personalities who converged
on Transcorp Hilton to witness the grand entry of the Honda
into the northern market. They came to behold a new-look,
mid-size End-of-Discussion, but were pleasantly surprised
that the car now looks bigger, longer, and imbued with more
features, all of which have combined to earn for it a place
in the premium class where you have offerings from Mercedes-Benz,
Audi, Lexus, BMW and many others.
Many of the guests, including a businessman, Chief Sunday
Mba, who described the 2008 Accord and the eighth since the
product made its debut, were, therefore, not surprised when
the marketing director of the Honda place, Mr. Deepak Daryanani,
took the stage to announce that the car had graduated from
its extremely popular pay-off line – End-of-Discussion
– to the apt sobriquet of Beyond Discussion. And he
earned himself and the car an appreciable ovation.
This was later echoed by the managing director of Stallion
Motors, Mr. Raju Sawlani, who while urging the Honda enthusiasts
to have a good time and also reach for their cheque books,
disclosed that the new Accord had been endowed with astonishing
characteristics by the Japanese manufacturer.
The night’s wining, munching and exchange of pleasantries,
were reminiscent of a similar event at the same venue last
year when the current Hyundai Elantra was unveiled, but the
Accord seemed to have attracted more potential buyers and
inquiries from the guests.
As soon as the event reached a climax with the lifting of
the veil off the Accords on display, the guest of honour,
Alhaji Mustapha Gabdu, who represented Governor Danbaba Suntari
of Taraba State, paid tribute to the awesomeness of the car,
and advised Accord lovers not to miss the opportunity of owing
the breath-taking new one.
And he showed the way himself by placing an order for one
unit on the spot. Present at the launch were bankers, top
government functionaries, chief executives of corporate organizations,
businessmen and other teeming Honda brand admirers.
The all-new Honda Accord is available in 2.0 litre and 2.4
litre engines. All Accord engines (including the 3.5 litre
that is not being offered by The Honda Place) have Honda’s
i-VTEC technology which makes for abundant power and efficiency
at all speeds.
Safety features include standard front, front side and curtain
airbags; vehicle stability assist (VSA); ABS (anti-lock brakes);
(EBS) electronic brake distribution; and tyre pressure monitoring
system (TPMS).
These are three trim level Accords, namely Elite, Inspire
and Elegance.
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