Opinion : The end of a good car

The news that Honda is canceling its Accord hybrid makes me sad. At the auto show a year ago, I though this car was the best all around practical car on the market. It was fast, looked cool, got great gas mileage, and looked cool. Alas, lately the auto industry is being more driven by marketing than technology (at least more so that usual) as several companies try to cut costs and look cool. I would say the biggest victim of this trend is Honda. (honorable mention to Ford, which has actually made a few decent cars lately) Honda has clearly been the biggest innovator of late and it has nothing to show for it. It was the first to the market with hybrid technology (with the Insight), the first to put that technology in a normal model (the civic) and its latest redesigns simply look cooler than their Toyota rivals and they haven't been plagued with as many recalls as Toyota or Mitsubishi. Problem is they are getting crushed in the market. Toyota is outselling them in pretty much every category, and they are the slowest growing Japanese automaker. (to be fair, it isn't all hype, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Mazda 08 models all look cooler and generally go faster)
While I would probably by a Nissan if i had the cash, it bothers me as an engineer and a tech fan when the innovator loses out to a rival with simply better hype.


Disclaimer: for financial reasons, I currently drive a beat up 92 Corrrolla