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About Acura

Acura is a car brand of the Japanese car group Honda. The brand name was created in 1986 and introduced in Canada, Hong Kong and the United States. Acura was also launched in Mexico in 2004 and in China in 2006. Honda also plans to introduce the brand to the Japanese home market in 2008. Acura focuses mainly on the upper middle and top class and is considered the first Japanese brand to enter the luxury market outside Japan. After all, Japan previously mainly exported cheap small cars. Acura’s success led to imitation. Toyota started with Lexus and Nissan launched Infiniti.

History of Acura

Japanese Honda launched Acura in 1986, after a decade of development, in North America. It was Honda’s answer to the position of European luxury brands in the US market. With Acura, the group wanted to capitalize on its reputation for reliability in the growing upper middle and top class market in the US. Initially, four models were introduced: the Acura Legend as a sedan and coupé and the Acura Integra as a three- or five-door hatchback .

Acura was an immediate success. The combination of quality, low maintenance and luxury turned out to be a golden product. As early as 1989, Honda’s new brand faced competition from Toyota and Nissan, which launched their own luxury brands Lexus and Infiniti respectively.

Acura introduced its NSX in 1991. This sports car with a mid -mounted V6 engine is considered to be the first Japanese car to compete with brands such as Ferrari and Porsche. The NSX – an acronym for New Sports eXperimental – was also the first production car to be made entirely of aluminum.

After the initial success, sales began to decline in the late 1990s. Increasing competition began to weigh on Acura’s position as a Japanese luxury brand. Acura also adopted a new alphanumeric naming system. For example, in 1996 the Legend was replaced by the 3.5 RL. Ten years earlier, the new Legend sold 50,000 units a year. The 3.5 RL sold 9392 units in 2002. The new model is also positioned against the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the BMW 5 Series, but they both sold over 40,000 units.

According to some, the new naming contributed to the decline. Names like RL, CL, MDX etc. were not very inspiring. The new style also appealed little to the imagination. Acura also did not want to use an engine with more than six cylinders or rear-wheel drive. With a few exceptions, however, that is the rule for luxury cars in the US. As a result, Acura was overtaken by its Japanese and European competitors.

In the 2000s Acura got back on track. The brand introduced its Acura MDX which was a great success. The SUV was practical, efficient and stylish. The Acura TSX sports sedan was introduced in 2004. The TL and RL also received a face lift. The renewed range was well received by the buyer public. In 2005, sales for the US rose above 200,000 units for the first time.

Current models 

• 1996+ : Acura RL (luxury sedan)
• 1996 +: Acura TL (sports sedan)
• 2001 +: Acura MDX (luxury SUV / crossover)
• 2004 +: Acura TSX (sport sedan)
• 2006 +: Acura CSX (sport sedan)
• 2006 +: Acura RDX (supercharged SUV)
• 2006 +: Acura CSX (OBV Honda Civic Sedan)