Acura Will Keep Flagship Sedan Conservative, May Add High-End Sporty Vehicle to Lineup

The launch of the refreshed Acura RL flagship gave us a chance to drill the company’s executives and PR reps with questions about the car’s successor as well as Acura’s latest plans to bring back something sports-car-like to the lineup. The information firewall was up in full force, so we were left to read between the lines. Following numerous conversations with Acura’s ebullient product chief, Vicki Poponi, and others, this is what we can surmise about the top of Honda’s top line.

The next Acura flagship likely will be called RL, not Legend or anything else terribly evocative, and it most certainly will not have a V-8 (we were told to stop asking). A former chemical engineer, Poponi is a numbers person, and she cites surveys that Acura believes disprove any notion that cylinder count is of real importance to luxury customers. “The market is moving to us,” the Acura folks said, citing increasing demand for higher fuel economy as well as the economic downturn prompting luxury customers to rein in their extravagant ways. We also kept hearing statements such as “Honda is a very conservative company,” and “the RL customer is a conservative customer.”

These hints suggest that the next RL will build upon the improvements made for 2011 in the areas of quietness, safety, and material quality, although the car will probably not feature terribly radical styling, nor will it grow all that much. So it won’t be a Lexus LS fighter but more like an Infiniti M fighter. Given that, we would also be very surprised if the next-gen car doesn’t add 25 to 50 horses so it can at least match the M37’s base output of 330 hp. When will we see the next-gen RL? With the current model’s age—and abysmal sales of about 3000 per year—it can’t come soon enough. Nods and nudges from Acura folks suggest that it will arrive very soon, perhaps within the next 12 to 18 months. We think the RL had better be at least a bit flashy if Acura hopes to get newfound attention from consumers in the brutally competitive $45K–$70K luxury-car segment. In this case, erring on the side of conservative may be an error indeed.

Details were far sketchier regarding additional members of the Acura lineup. We were told that Acura will soon introduce something unconventional sometime around the launch of the new flagship sedan. Will it be sporty? Probably. Will it be called NSX? Who knows. Will it be the front-engine supercar we saw lapping the Nürburgring a couple of years ago? No. Although that car was all but finished, according to Acura insiders, it was cancelled—not even shelved—due to Honda’s concerns that it might be crass to offer a $150K–$175K sports car in the face of worldwide economic hardship. However, much of the technology developed for that car will appear in the new car. Whatever it’s called.

Source;

http://blog.caranddriver.com/acura-will-keep-flagship-sedan-conservative-may-add-high-end-sporty-vehicle-to-lineup/

Future products: Acura will push for luxury credentials without V8, RWD

The dreams of getting a V8 engine, rear-wheel-drive platforms and a sports car to replace the NSX have died for Acura dealers. Now the question is whether Acura can follow Audi's lead and elevate its brand from premium to luxury with front- and all-wheel-drive platforms.

Meanwhile, Acura may return to two segments that it had abandoned by adding a compact car and a coupe.

Compact car: An Acura compact would be based on the next-generation Honda Civic, which means a spring 2012 launch as a 2013 model at the soonest. Acura left the compact segment at the end of the 2006 model year when it dropped the RSX. Acura doesn't want merely to homologate the Canadian market CSX, which is a badge-engineered Civic.

TSX: A wagon variant comes this fall, based on the European market Honda Accord wagon. The wagon will be available with fwd only and a four-cylinder engine. The sedan version of the TSX offers awd and a V6 option.

TL: The mid-sized sedan is due for a redesign for the 2014 model year. At that time, Honda's large-platform hybrid system should be ready. Expect a freshening for the 2012 model year.

Coupe: Although the CL coupe was dropped several years ago, Acura is considering re-entering the segment on the TSX platform, shared with the European Accord. But there are no plans now.

RL: The rwd V8 sedan that had been expected won't happen, the result of recession-driven cost-cutting. Honda Motor Co. has said the RL is not going to be redesigned, but U.S. executives insist that there will be another edition.

The RL is based on an outdated, stand-alone platform that may be re-engineered for the 2013 model year to make it last a couple of years more while the brand figures out what to do next. T

The RL also would be restyled at that time. The solution may be to stretch the next TL platform. So much for a flagship.

RDX: A redesign is slated for the 2012 model year.

ZDX: No significant changes are planned.

MDX: The redesign was planned for the 2012 model year, but that may be pushed back a year, when Honda's large-platform hybrid powertrain will be ready. The MDX currently comes only with a 3.7-liter V6 engine, which may raise concerns about fuel economy.

Source;
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20101001/CARNEWS/101009998

Next-Gen Acura Legend (RL) a Go

There were reports that development of the next-generation Acura RL was postponed, but Honda president Takanobu Ito has confirmed that it’s all go for Acura’s next full-size luxury car. Many have pointed to the current RL’s V-6 engine as the weak point in the car’s equipment lineup, saying V-8-power and smoothness are necessary to compete in this segment. Therefore, the next RL will feature Honda’s large displacement hybrid powerplant under its hood. Also, as you can see from this drawing, the front grille will look much different than the “shield” design used on today’s Acura cars. That said, don’t be surprised to the “shield” still be used on U.S. cars. As for me, I’ll take this grille, thank you.

Source;
http://blog.roadandtrack.com/next-gen-acura-legend-rl-a-go/