THE upper medium sector fleet battle further intensified this week with Honda adding air conditioning as standard to its Accord petrol-engined saloon range with no price increase. Honda's move - worth around £600 - means the Swindon-built saloon is now equipped with both air conditioning and sunroof and comes just a week after Vauxhall announced air conditioning was now standard on all Vectras with the exception of the entry-level Envoy.

However, the LS Vectra receives air conditioning in lieu of a sunroof meaning only GLS models and above get both features. Renault, Citroen and Mazda also all offer air conditioning as standard on their upper medium contenders, but the remainder only offer the increasingly popular feature in lieu of a sunroof or charge extra for fitting it on lower specification models.

Imported LS Accord estate and coupe models continue to have an air conditioning option, while air conditioning is standard on ES estate and coupe models. Changes to the Accord saloon line-up are immediate and to prevent any distress marketing of Accords without air conditioning and a sunroof, and resulting damage to residual values, Honda is taking both existing dealer stock and vehicles held in the manufacturer's central stocking and upgrading them to the new specification level.