THE new Honda Accord has got its career off to a good start, having beaten off competition from the Nissan 350Z, Mazda6 and BMW MINI to win Japan's Car of the Year Award for 2002-2003.

Honda president and CEO, Hiroyuki Yoshino, said: 'We are extremely honoured that the new Accord has been singled out for the award.

'We are especially gratified that the new Accord is the first to win under the new rules, chosen from a field including both domestic and import cars.'

This is the third year in a row Honda has picked up the prize, having won with the Civic, Civic Ferio and Stream in 2001 and the Jazz in 2002. It is also the third Accord to win, with the 1985 third generation and 1993 fifth generation taking the top spot.