Regardless of father or mother firm Honda’s inexperienced and pleasant model picture, luxurious marque Acura hasn’t made a grand assertion about electrifying their lineup. At the same time as manufacturers like Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley, and Infiniti pledge to thoroughly electrify their lineups within the coming decade, Acura has held again. The explanation, in keeping with Acura head honcho Jon Ikeda, is that it is specializing in reestablishing itself as a efficiency model.
In a wide-ranging interview with Automotive Information, Ikeda says Acura got here out of the gate sturdy in 1986 and did effectively for the primary 20 years, however when the underside fell out of the market in 2008 the model skilled “rising pains.” That spawned a interval of self-reflection and, as Ikeda places it, “What are we about?” The choice was made to return to Acura’s roots because the efficiency division of Honda. “That is what Acura is. That is what I fell in love with,” Ikeda says.
Ikeda joined Honda in 1989, however his promotion to Acura boss in 2015 was a shock to many, together with himself. That is as a result of Honda had a convention of placing engineers on the helm, and Ikeda was a designer, answerable for the seems to be of such vehicles because the FSX idea, 2001 Civic Coupe, and beloved 2004 Acura TL.
When requested by AN whether or not Acura is frightened that luxurious opponents are placing stakes within the floor to say EV model identities, Ikeda says no. “For us as a model, we wanted to form of refocus and reestablish ourselves as a efficiency model… We would like all people to grasp the place we’re, what we’re about first. Even when we go electrical we’ll proceed to be a efficiency division of Honda and efficiency shall be our focus.”
To earn its efficiency road cred, Acura poured assets into the second-gen NSX hybrid supercar, which served as testbed for a way electrical energy can work harmoniously with efficiency. They are going to proceed to marketing campaign IMSA race vehicles to earn trophies as proof, and Ikeda additionally desires to convey extra Sort S fashions to the lineup.
Ikeda says Acura continues to be within the technique of rebuilding its basis, however when he is completed he expects individuals to affiliate Acura with efficiency. That certain appears bold to us, however merchandise like the brand new TLX are a useful stepping stone. It additionally explains why Acura is investing in several platforms to distinguish itself from Honda.
To be clear, Ikeda is not ruling out electrification. Nevertheless, as he reiterates many instances, car dynamics and efficiency will come first, and that is what he desires Acura to be recognized for initially.
