Honda has long made an art of offering a completely different model in the same segment on every continent. In 2023, it will be dismissed as too expensive and complicated, but to the Japanese at the turn of the century it was still the most common thing in the world. With the Sixth Generation Covenant, they made it more colorful. Between roughly 1997 and 2002 (1998 and 2003 in Europe) menus in North America, Europe, and Japan had completely different conventions, allowing the rest of the world to choose what could best serve them.
The choices Honda made to do so obviously weren’t always logical. For example, not Europe but Japan got a station wagon version, North America got no sporty variant and the Honda Accord Type-R was only available in Europe. So that car is not for sale in other parts of the world and is very rare with us, it already has a place in this segment.
Although Japan had to do without the Type-R, a replacement was introduced there in 2000. You guessed it: that’s the Honda Accord Euro-R. That name is significant, but said to distinguish it from the uncompromising Type-R versions (and other models). The ‘Euro’ may refer to the European Type-R that debuted two years ago, and this Euro-R shares its 2.2-liter four-cylinder. Euro-R got even more power, that is, 220 instead of 212 hp. Like the European contract type-R, the sporty party was strengthened by installing all kinds of skirts and spoilers.
Honda deal from around 2000 in Japan
Honda Accord since 2000 in North America
Honda Accord from around 2000 in Europe (here as a liftback).
To be clear: this Japanese contract has nothing to do with the contract used in Europe a quarter of a century ago. It looks like it, sure, but the bodywork is completely different, just like the American version. The successor to the Accord generation, the seventh, was also available as the Euro-R. The model was again sold worldwide, although it was known as the Acura TSX in North America. A Type-R, therefore to Europe, never came again.
