2014 Honda Accord Plug-In Hybrid brings an … interesting new look

All forward-thinking automakers have a car that plugs into an electrical outlet on their drawing boards, and today Honda showed off its first mass-market plug-in hybrid, the 2014 Honda Accord. It's a high-end version of Honda's updated Accord that should get close to 100 mpg. The unique front end design is a freebie, unless you want to pay someone to change it.

Honda's specs for the plug-in Accord make clear it's meant to surpass the plug-in Toyota Prius; we've yet to see final numbers on the electrically boosted Ford Fusion that will also hit the market around the same time. None of these models will be sold in huge volumes -- Toyota is selling about 1,100 Prius plug-ins a month -- but meant to test the demand for ultra high-mileage options.

With 196 hp, Honda is claiming a power advantage over every other plug-in hybrid, including the Fusion. It's not a long-distance EV, with a small 6 kWh battery that will go a maximum of 15 miles before the engine switches on. Given that the engine is a 2-liter four-cylinder mill, Honda expects a sky-high mileage figure for the car when it runs on gasoline alone.

But we can't just sit back and wait without noting the front end of this Accord sporting what Honda calls a "unique" look and what others are already calling plain ugly. Photos often don't do justice to cars, and designs that seem garish or jarring on first look can pull together in metal. Yet between the octagonal projector headlamps, LED strips, blue wings and scrunched intakes, this front-end looks busier than a bartender at last call. History shows hybrid drivers prefer cars that draw attention to their environmental bonafides, but this may take that a step or four too far.