Honda had announced that it will be cutting production of its Accord hybrid. Apparently not only are sales low for the brand’s flagship, but younger sibling Civic hybrid is selling like hotcakes. I’ve read Honda’s even considering dropping the trim altogether.

If the automaker does so, we’ll have to drop them.

Analysts have pointed to numerous reasons why the Accord hybrid has not been selling well. Most of the press and buyers feel the increase in mileage is not worth the premium. Others add the non-descript exterior doesn’t scream hybrid.

I feel, as a hybrid Accord owner, that each reason is full of fallacies. When reviews compare the mileage of the non-hybrid (”regular”) Accord versus the hybrid, they’re comparing figures provided from the EPA, not from real-world driving. Our Accord hybrid gets between 35-38 miles per gallon. Doesn’t sound like a lot when compared the regular Accord’s EPA 30 mpg highway but the latter doesn’t included mixed street/freeway driving, AC, etc. Personal experience with other V6 show most will be lucky to get 80% of the EPA estimated miles. Thus, the regular Accord will average 25 miles per gallon, 10 less than the hybrid. Still doesn’t like a lot? Maybe if compared to the Prius which averages 40 mpg in the real world. But not only does the hybrid Accord have nearly double the horsepower of the Prius, it has 15 more ponies than the regular Accord. This was a selling point for us since we didn’t feel we had to sacrifice power for mileage.

Bland styling, say reviewers, is another Accord hybrid failing. Oh, really? To us, the Prius’ sheet metal turned us off. We’re Americans and don’t particular like (or need) a hatchback. But more importantly is that we didn’t want to stand out as so-called “greenies”. (We are, but that’s a different issue.) We’re more concerned about reliability, performance, and technology than making a statement.

The Accord hybrid is our first Honda and so far we’ve been extremely impressed. We keep our cars until they die which means we’ll be driving our Accord for a long time given Honda’ excellent reputation. But we have expectations now on what we want in our cars, expectations that will not be met if the automaker drops the trim from its lineup. As the old saying goes, Americans vote with their dollars; brand loyalty is dead. We’ll drop Honda if it stops building what we want and its competitors offer comparable products.