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T Honda Prospect Motor (HPM), a joint venture between Japan'€™s third-largest automaker, Honda Motor Co., and Indonesia'€™s Prospect Motor, rolled out on Thursday in Jakarta the latest version of its legendary sedan, the Accord, in a bid to maintain its leadership in the country'€™s sedan market.

The firm aims to sell at least 200 cars every month. HPM president director Tomoki Uchida said after the launch that although he was aware of the tight competition in the sedan market in Indonesia, Honda was still optimistic that it would be successful with its ninth-generation Accord.

The new model features a 2.4 liter DOHC i-VTEC engine and six-speed automatic and manual transmissions. The automaker claims its technology, called ECON Mode, consumes up to 20 percent less fuel.

Honda has sold 18.5 million Accords worldwide since its introduction in 1976, while it has sold a total of 77,052 Accords between 1978 and March this year in Indonesia.

In the midsize car segment, the Accord, which last year saw its sales decline due to disruptions in supply from Thailand, now competes closely with its long-time rival, the Toyota Camry.

HPM marketing and after-sales service director Jonfis Fandy said that the entry of the new Accord would significantly help Honda to sustain its position as a market leader in the overall sedan market.

At present, Honda is the number-one seller in the sedan segment, relying heavily on its Honda City and Honda Civic, which combined control 60 percent of market share.

'€œWe hope that with the new model we can achieve a better sales figure this year,'€ Jonfis said.

Honda expects to increase its sales by 44 percent to 100,000 cars this year, partly due to the full recovery of supply from its production base in Thailand, following the massive floods in 2011, as well as the robust expansion of the domestic automotive market.

Car sales, a key indicator of consumption in Indonesia, have accelerated in the past few years, strongly driven by a surging middle class. Automakers hope to see car sales rise by 10 percent to 1.2 million this year, while as of the first quarter, sales settled at 295,909, up 17.97 percent from the same period last year.

From January to March, HPM delivered 26,772 cars, up by 228.77 percent from last year, which Jonfis attributed primarily to the supply factor. The best-seller was its hatchback, the Honda Jazz, while other models such as its city car, the Brio, and sports utility vehicle (SUV), the CR-V, also contributed considerably to its overall quarterly sales.

Jonfis said the company was on track to attain its full-year target, with plans afoot to launch a few additional models to help meet that target, but he declined to elaborate further.

To help meet the surging domestic demand, Honda is building a new plant in Karawang, West Java, which will triple its annual production capacity to 180,000 cars once commercial operations begin in the first quarter of next year.