Since initiation, Honda has offered several different car body styles and versions of the Accord, and often vehicles marketed under the Accord nameplate concurrently in different regions differ quite substantially. It debuted in 1976 as a compact hatchback, though this style only lasted through 1989, as the line-up was expanded to include a sedan, coupé, and wagon. By the Accord's sixth generation in the 1990s, it evolved into an intermediate vehicle, with one basic platform but with different bodies and proportions to increase its competitiveness against its rivals in different international markets. For the eighth generation of the Accord released for the North America market in 2007, Honda had again chosen to move the model further up-scale and increase its size.[1] This pushed the Accord sedan from the upper limit of what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines as a mid-size car to just above the lower limit of a full-size car,[2] with the coupe still rated as a mid-size car. The current tenth generation Accord for the North America market is again classified as a mid-size car, falls just short of full-size car classification with the combined interior space of 119 cubic feet (3.4 m3). After a period of developing idiosyncratic automobiles such as the Honda 1300 that met a lukewarm response in both Japan and North America, Honda considered pulling out of automobile manufacturing altogether by the early 1970s. However, Honda released a more conventional automobile in 1972 called the "Civic" which immediately reversed their flagging fortunes due to its economy, reliability and low cost in an era of rising fuel prices. The Civic utilized Honda's CVCC technology, later used in the Accord, to help Honda meet emission standards of the 1970s and early 1980s without the added expense of a catalytic converter.[3] Buoyed by their success with the Civic, Honda turned their sights to developing a larger companion model. For the new model, Honda chose the name "Accord", reflecting "Honda's desire for accord and harmony between people, society and the automobile."[4] Soichiro Honda was the owner of a 1969 Pontiac Firebird, to which the Accord's predecessor, the Honda 1300, bore a striking frontal resemblance.[3] Initial planning done by Honda for what would become the Accord was for a sporty competitor in the pony car market, at roughly the size of a contemporary Ford Mustang, powered by a six-cylinder engine.[5] With the continuing fuel crisis and tighter emissions regulations surrounding the automotive market, Honda engineers changed their focus on the Accord as a Mustang competitor, and built upon the Civic's successful formula of economy, fuel efficiency and a front-wheel drive layout in a larger package.[6] A December 1975 issue of Motor Trend Magazine had a drawing of a new Honda automobile which was similar in shape to the Volkswagen Scirocco but powered with a CVCC engine used in the Civic. In 1982, the Accord became the first car from a Japanese manufacturer to be produced in the United States when production commenced in Marysville, Ohio at Honda's Marysville Auto Plant. The Accord has achieved considerable success, especially in the United States, where it was the best-selling Japanese car for sixteen years (1982–97), topping its class in sales in 1991 and 2001, with around ten million vehicles sold.[7] Numerous road tests, past and present, rate the Accord as one of the world's most reliable vehicles.[8] The Accord has been on the Car and Driver 10Best list a record 30 times.[9] In 1989, the Accord was the first vehicle sold under an import brand to become the best-selling vehicle in the United States.[10]