Acura

Acura logo

Acura is a brand name used by the Japanese car manufacturer Honda in the US, Canada and Hong Kong since March 1986 to market luxury automobiles and near-luxury vehicles. The brand was introduced to Mexico in 2004 and the Chinese market in 2006. It is also planned to extend Acura to the Japanese domestic market in 2008. With the Acura brand, Honda is credited with being the first to tap into a market for luxury Japanese cars outside Japan. Before Acura, automobiles from Japan were primarily economical and were seen as reliable above all else.

Other Japanese luxury brands (Toyota's Lexus and Nissan's Infiniti) sprang up in North America shortly after Acura's introduction of the Legend, a V6-powered coupe and sedan, and the Integra, which was offered with a 4-cylinder engine only. Automotive journalists were impressed particularly by the Acura Legend.

In 1989, Acura introduced the NSX, a midship V6 powered, rear-wheel-drive sports car. The NSX, an acronym for "New Sports eXperimental", was hailed as the first (and perhaps, to date, the only) Japanese car capable of competing with Ferrari and Porsche.

Unfortunately, after this strong start, the mid- to late 1990s, Acura's model line-up became less and less inspiring and consequently, sales suffered. During this time, Acura switched to an alphanumeric formula for nomenclature. The 1996 3.5RL, which replaced the well-loved Legend, was seen by many as the epitome of Acura's new-found blandness. Its sluggish 210-horsepower V6 (later bumped to 225 hp) and front-wheel drive, together with anonymous styling that cautiously aped the larger, more powerful and more engaging Lexus LS400, did little against more prestigious, attractive and faster offerings from BMW, Audi, and Lexus, among others. Even the swoopy NSX lost sales as Acura barely changed the car from its original 1989 trim.

Despite these letdowns, Acura did gain prominence in the 1990s with a younger group of people; the import tuner set. Parent company Honda's reputation as a maker of easy to tune and rev-happy engines with this demographic rubbed off onto Acura, and the Integra became a popular tuner car.

Beginning around the year 2000, Acura experienced a rebirth which was catalyzed by the introduction of several revitalized models. The first of these models was the redesigned Acura 3.2 TL, an upscale sedan competing with the likes of the Lexus ES, Infiniti I30, and BMW 5-series. Although the 3.2 TL did not outdo its competition in any one area, it offered a well-rounded blend of sportiness and luxury thatproved very popular with consumers. Subsequent Acura models have followed a similar philosophy of offering a good luxury car at a good price, with lots of standard equipment and very few options.

Another refreshed Acura introduced in the early 2000s was the MDX, a popular three-row crossover SUV based on the Honda Odyssey minivan. The MDX replaced the slow-selling SLX, which was little more than a rebadged Isuzu Trooper. The MDX was a car-like and fun-to-drive crossover SUV with little off-road capability that catered smartly to the demands of the luxury SUV market. It was given top honors by Car and Driver in its first comparison test against seven other SUVs. Other cars in Acura's line-up during this time included the 3.2 TL, 3.2 CL, RSX (formerly the Integra), and the supercar, the NSX.

The RL is Acura's flagship vehicle.

A new TL debuted in 2004, equipped with sharp, Italianate styling and a 270-hp V6, and available with a 6-speed manual transmission led to a dramatic increase in sales for Acura. The same year, Acura introduced the TSX, a European-market Honda Accord loaded with features, as a cheaper alternative to the BMW 3-series. This model became the only 4-cylinder sedan in Acura's line-up, replacing the Acura CL coupe and Integra sedan. A new RL debuted in 2005, this time with a 300-hp V6, more exciting styling, and innovative Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD), a system capable of sending almost all of the RL's power to just one wheel in a turn.

Acura's new models—particularly the RL and TSX—have been well received by the motoring press. However, with the US Big Three recently (re)introducing sport sedans with rear wheel drive and V8 engines, some predict that Acura (who is the only Luxury manufacturer not to offer V8s and along with Saab is the only one to use FWD exclusively) may need to rethink its design philosophy once again.

In the future, Acura will introduce the RDX, a smaller SUV set to feature the RL's SH-AWD (Super Handling All Wheel Drive). It should debut in mid-2006 as a 2007 model.

And while the slow-selling NSX was discontinued in December 2005, Acura has promised a redesigned model sometime in 2007-2009, currently known only as the Honda HSC.

History

*1990
**Acura dealerships in the US win their fifth consecutive first-place ranking on the Customer Satisfaction Index by J. D. Power and Associates. Acura announces that it will expand research and development in US.
*1991
**The Acura Legend coupe wins Motor Trend's prestigious Import Car of the Year trophy.
**Honda's revolutionary VTEC technology is introduced in the NSX
**Acura is introduced in Hong Kong by Reliance Motors
*1997
**The Integra Type-R is introduced.
*2001
**The MDX wins the prestigious Motor Trend "2001 Sport/Utility of the Year" award.
*2002
**Acura RSX replaces Integra name in North America.
*2003
**TSX is introduced as replacement for the CL coupe and Acura Integra sedan. Integra, first introduced in 1986, was long overdue for a redesign. TSX becomes very competitive choice against popular BMW 3-series.
*2004
**Acura is introduced in Mexico by Honda de Mexico.
**3rd generation Acura TL is introduced and immediately becomes the best selling luxury car in America.
*2005
**The new Acura TL wins "Consumer's Most Wanted Vehicle" at Edmunds.com
**Acura RL is introduced with revolutionary SH-AWD system
*2006
**Acura is introduced in China.
**Acura RDX is introduced with SH-AWD

Future models

*2007 2nd Generation MD-X compact crossover SUV
*2008 Acura will be introduced in Japan

Current models

*MDX (crossover SUV)
*RDX ((entry-level luxury SUV)
*RL (full-size sedan)
*RSX (sports coupe) (2006 is last year of production)
*TL (mid-size sports sedan)
*TSX (mid-size sports sedan)
*CSX (compact sedan) (replacement for the Acura EL, only available in Canada)

Discontinued models

*EL (compact sedan; only available in Canada)
*Integra (sports coupe and sedan, replaced by the RSX and TSX)
*Legend (luxury sedan and coupe, replaced by the RL and CL)
*Vigor (mid-sized sedan, replaced by the TL)
*CL (luxury coupe, replaced by TSX sedan)
*SLX (SUV, replaced by the MDX)
*NSX (exotic coupe)

See also

*Honda
*VTEC
*Honda Type-R

External links

*Acura USA
*Acura Canada
*Honda to launch Acura Brand in Japan (Edmunds)