Portal:Acura
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Introduction
Acura (/ˈækjʊrə/) is the luxury vehicle marque of Japanese automaker Honda. The brand was launched in the United States and Canada in 27 March 1986, marketing luxury, performance, and high-performance vehicles. It was introduced to Hong Kong in 1991, Mexico in 2004, China in 2006, Russia in 2014 (no longer available in Russia) and Kuwait in 2015, and is also sold in Ukraine. Honda's plan to introduce Acura to the Japanese domestic market (JDM) in 2008 was delayed, due to economic reasons, and later withheld as a result of the 2008 financial crisis.
Acura holds the distinction of being the first Japanese automotive luxury brand. The creation of Acura coincided with the introduction of a JDM Honda dealership sales channel, called Honda Clio, which sold luxury vehicles, joining previously established Honda Verno, followed by Honda Primo the following year. In its first few years of existence, Acura was among the best-selling luxury marques in the US. Though sales were down in the mid-to-late 1990s, the brand experienced a revival in the early 2000s, due to drastic redesigns and the introductions of new models.
Selected general articles
The Acura RDX is Acura’s first compact luxury crossover SUV, taking over from the MDX as Acura's entry-level crossover SUV, as the MDX grew in size and price. Originally, the RDX was built upon the same platform Honda uses for their Civic and CR-V passenger cars, however starting from its third generation, the Acura RDX is built on its own platform. Read more...
The Acura MDX, or Honda MDX as known in Japan and Australia (only the first generation was imported), is a mid-size three-row luxury crossover, produced by the Japanese automaker Honda under its Acura luxury nameplate since 2000. The alphanumeric moniker stands for "Multi-Dimensional luxury". According to Honda, the MDX is the best-selling three-row luxury crossover of all time, with cumulative U.S. sales expected to surpass 700,000 units before the end of 2014. It has ranked as the second-best selling luxury crossover after the Lexus RX, which offers only two rows of seats.
The MDX was the first crossover SUV to have third-row seating, and shares a platform with the Honda Pilot. The Pilot seats eight, while the MDX seats seven, with two seating positions in the third row. The MDX was introduced as a 2001 model, replacing the slow-selling U.S.-only body-on-frame SLX, based on the Isuzu Trooper. In Japan, it filled a gap when the Honda Horizon (also based on the Trooper) was discontinued in 1999. In 2003, the Honda MDX went on sale in Japan and Australia. The MDX has been the most expensive crossover in Acura's lineup, except for the 2009-13 model years when Acura added a crossover to slot above the MDX, called the ZDX. Read more...
The "Acura SLX" was a lightly upgraded and re-badged Isuzu Trooper sold by the Acura division of Honda from 1995 to 1999, as 1996 to 1999 year models. Sold only in the United States, the SLX was later replaced by the Acura MDX in 2001.
The SLX omitted some of the options available on Troopers from concurrent model years, including the manual transmission and certain engines. From 1996 to 1997 the SLX was only available with the 3.2-litre SOHC or DOHC V6 engine, switching to the new 3.5-litre DOHC V6 engine in 1998. The SLX received a restyled front end for the 1998 model year, but continued to sell poorly and was ultimately discontinued after 1999. It is said that sales were affected by bad press when the 1996 to 1997 models were rated "Not Acceptable" by Consumer Reports for their tendency to roll over during testing. Read more...
The Honda NSX, marketed in North America as the Acura NSX, is a two-seat, mid-engine sports car manufactured by Honda/Acura.
The origins of the NSX trace back to 1984, with the HP-X (Honda Pininfarina eXperimental) concept, which was a mid-engined 3.0 L V6 engined rear wheel drive sports car. Honda committed to the project, with the intention of meeting or exceeding the performance of the then V8 engined Ferrari range, while offering reliability and a lower price point. The concept thus evolved and had its name changed to NS-X, which stood for "New", "Sportscar" "Unknown world" (the X was a reference to the mathematical symbol X, which stands for an unknown variable), although the production model was launched as the NSX. Read more...
The Honda Integra DC5 (Japanese: ホンダ インテグラ DC5) is the fourth and final generation of the Honda Integra subcompact executive car, introduced in Japan on April 13, 2001, and produced from July 2001 to July 2006. It was introduced in North America for the 2002 model year as the Acura RSX (the name changed from Integra due to Honda wanting customers to relate cars to the Acura brand, as opposed to nameplates like "Integra" or "Legend". It does not stand for anything).
In concordance with the introduction of the Integra's platform mate, the seventh-generation Civic being introduced in 2000, the Integra joined the Civic in abandoning Honda's traditional double-wishbone suspension at both ends and adopted MacPherson struts in the front and trailing arm type suspension in the rear along with the new K-series engine supplanting the B-series. Read more...
The Acura CL is a midsize coupé manufactured by Honda's Acura brand from February 19, 1996 to 1999, and from 2000 to 2003. The CL is often thought to have been a replacement for the Acura Legend coupé, but with the advent of the TL in 1996, which directly replaced the Vigor, the CL is more precisely a TL coupé. All Acura CLs were built at Honda's plant in Marysville, Ohio, alongside the TL and the Honda Accord upon which the Acura CLs were based. The CL was the first Acura to be built in the United States.
Following the end of the 1995 model year, the Acura Legend coupé disappeared from Acura's lineup when the sedan version was renamed the Acura RL. The CL was not a direct replacement for the Legend coupé as it no longer shared the same chassis as its sedan counterpart, and was not made in Japan, unlike the RL. Because Acura no longer had a suitable Legend coupé replacement, they created the CL, which is based on the first generation Acura TL, which was released one year before the CL. With the release of the TL and 3.5RL in 1996 Acura transitioned to alphanumeric and/or two letter names, naming of all of its vehicles (with the exception of the Integra, which kept its name until the 2001 model year). Although the CL was considered to be a satisfactory vehicle, it never gained traction or popularity like the other Acura coupés. Read more...
The Honda Integra is an automobile produced by Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda from 1986 to 2006. It succeeded the Honda Quint as a more luxurious and sport-oriented derivative of the Civic. The Integra was one of the launch models for Acura in the US in 1986. Throughout its life, the Integra was highly regarded for its handling and performance. The Integra Type R is widely regarded as the best front wheel drive car of all time.
Car and Driver magazine named the Integra to its annual Ten Best list six times: in 1987, 1988, and 1994 through 1997. The GS-R model was called out specifically in 1994 and 1995. It made a return on the Ten Best list as the Acura RSX, in 2002 and 2003. Read more...
The Acura EL is a subcompact executive car that was built at Honda's Alliston, Ontario, plant, and also the first Acura built in Canada. The EL is a badge-engineered Honda Civic with a higher level of features.
The Acura EL was a sales success. Representing 51% of Acura Canada's annual new-vehicle sales in its first full year, the EL remained Acura's top seller in Canada from 1997 to 2003. The Acura EL was replaced for the 2006 model year by the Acura CSX which, like the EL, was available only in Canada. Read more...
The Acura ILX is a compact executive car for Honda's luxury brand Acura. All ILX variants are based upon the ninth-generation Civic Sedan.
The ILX became Acura's first compact model in the United States since the RSX was discontinued after the 2006 model year, and their first compact sedan in the United States since the Integra was last produced in 2001. The ILX was also Acura's first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle. Read more...
The Acura TSX is a compact executive car that was manufactured by Acura from 2003 to 2014. Introduced in April 2003 as a 2004 model, it was sold only in the United States and Canada, but since the 2009 model year it has also been available in Mexico. It is also sold in Guam and Puerto Rico. It is sold in North America under the Acura luxury marque, where it filled the gap as Acura's 4-door, entry-level sedan when the Integra sedan was discontinued in 2001 (1996 in Canada since the EL was the Integra sedan's replacement there). The TSX would also eventually replace the Acura RSX in the US (which in turn succeeded the Acura Integra coupe). From 2008 until 2013, the TSX was the smallest vehicle in the Acura model line, other than the Civic-based CSX (and the preceding 1.6/1.7EL) sold only in Canada. In 2013, the smaller ILX was introduced in both the United States and Canada, based upon the Civic platform (replacing the CSX in Canada). All TSXs were built in Sayama, Saitama, Japan.
The TSX is badge engineered from the CL-series Accord (also known as the Euro R Accord or JDM Accord R) sold in Europe, Japan, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The TSX initially had a restyled interior and different suspension tuning than the European Accord when it was introduced. However, since 2008, the interior is now standardized for all three markets. In Australia & New Zealand, the CL-series is sold as the Accord Euro R in the smaller mid-size bracket, where the American-market Accord is sold in the large car category. In North America, the TSX is sold alongside the mid-size luxury Acura TL, which is based on the American-market Accord.
The Accord Euro was launched in China at the end of 2009, where it is built by Dongfeng Honda, and is called the Honda Spirior. Read more...
The Acura RL is a full-sized / executive / medium-sized luxury car that was manufactured by the Acura division of Honda for the 1996–2012 model years over two generations. The RL was the flagship of the marque, having succeeded the Acura Legend, and was replaced in 2013 by the Acura RLX. All models of the Legend, RL and RLX lines have been adapted from the Japanese domestic market Honda Legend. The model name "RL" is an abbreviation for "Refined Luxury."
The first-generation Acura RL was a rebadged version of the third-generation Honda Legend, and was first introduced to the North American market in 1996, to replace the second-generation Acura Legend. The second-generation Acura RL was a rebadged version of the fourth-generation Honda Legend, introduced to the North American market in September 2004, as a 2005 model. This iteration of the RL received an extensive mid-generational facelift for the 2009 model year, and a further update for 2011. The third-generation debuted for the 2014 model year as the Acura RLX. Read more...
The Acura CSX (Compact Sportscar eXperimental) was Acura's subcompact executive car exclusively designed for the Canadian market. The CSX is the first Acura model with two predecessors, the Integra sedan (1986–1996) and the EL (1997–2005). Like the EL, it was only available in Canada and built in Alliston, Ontario, Canada. In 2012, the ILX was introduced as the CSX's replacement, now available in both the United States and Canada. Read more...
The Acura ARX-01, later known as the HPD ARX-01 is a series of Le Mans Prototype built for sports car racing, specifically in the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is the first purpose-built race car by the Acura division of Honda Motor Company, part of their multi-year program to eventually compete in endurance race. The car debuted in 2007 in the American Le mans Series before expanding to customers in Europe. Over the years various specifications of the ARX-01 chassis have been developed, each signified by a letter suffix. In 2010 Acura withdrew their name from the program and Honda Performance Development which developed the car for Acura continued the program into 2011. Read more...
The Acura ARX-02a was a Le Mans Prototype constructed by Acura for competition in the LMP1 category of the American Le Mans Series. It was Acura's second Le Mans Prototype, following their ARX-01 which competed in the LMP2 category. Read more...
The Honda NSX, marketed in North America as the Acura NSX, is a two-seat, mid-engine sports car manufactured by Honda/Acura.
The origins of the NSX trace back to 1984, with the HP-X (Honda Pininfarina eXperimental) concept, which was a mid-engined 3.0 L V6 engined rear wheel drive sports car. Honda committed to the project, with the intention of meeting or exceeding the performance of the then V8 engined Ferrari range, while offering reliability and a lower price point. The concept thus evolved and had its name changed to NS-X, which stood for "New", "Sportscar" "Unknown world" (the X was a reference to the mathematical symbol X, which stands for an unknown variable), although the production model was launched as the NSX. Read more...
The Acura TLX is a compact executive / entry-level luxury sedan manufactured by Acura, the luxury vehicle division of Honda, since 2014. It slots between the Lexus IS and the Lexus ES / Lexus GS in size. Read more...
The Honda NSX, marketed in North America as the Acura NSX, is a two-seat, mid-engine sports car manufactured by Honda/Acura.
The origins of the NSX trace back to 1984, with the HP-X (Honda Pininfarina eXperimental) concept, which was a mid-engined 3.0 L V6 engined rear wheel drive sports car. Honda committed to the project, with the intention of meeting or exceeding the performance of the then V8 engined Ferrari range, while offering reliability and a lower price point. The concept thus evolved and had its name changed to NS-X, which stood for "New", "Sportscar" "Unknown world" (the X was a reference to the mathematical symbol X, which stands for an unknown variable), although the production model was launched as the NSX. Read more...
The Acura ZDX is a mid-size luxury crossover SUV developed by Honda for its upmarket brand Acura. The car was originally scheduled to be called the Acura MSX. The ZDX debuted at the 2009 New York International Auto Show on April 8, 2009. The vehicle was also the first to be completely designed at Acura's southern California design studio in Torrance.
The original ZDX concept was penned by Michelle Christensen who labeled it a "4-door luxury sports coupe" and which Acura says "blurs the distinction between coupe, sedan and sport utility vehicle." Read more...
The Honda Vigor was a premium sedan that was sold in Japan through the Honda Verno dealer network from 1981 to 1995 derived from the Honda Accord, and briefly sold in North America from June 1991 to 1994 as the Acura Vigor. Early Vigors were more upmarket versions of the Accord and served as Honda's flagship until the arrival of the Honda Legend. In 1989, the Vigor would differentiate itself further from the Accord with unique styling and an available longitudinal five-cylinder engine, and a twin to the Vigor was introduced with the Honda Inspire, available at Honda Clio dealerships.
It was replaced in North America with the Acura TL and in Japan with the Honda Saber/Inspire, which were the same vehicle sold through different networks. Read more...
The Acura Legend is a mid-size luxury/executive car manufactured by Honda. It was sold in the U.S., Canada, and parts of China under Honda's luxury brand, Acura, from 1985 to 1995, as both a sedan, which was classified as a full-size car, and a coupe, which was classified as a mid-size car (similar to how the Honda Accord is set up today). It was the first flagship sedan sold under the Acura nameplate, until being renamed in 1996 as the Acura 3.5RL. The 3.5RL was the North American version of the KA9 series Honda Legend.
The opportunity for Japanese manufacturers to export more expensive models had arisen with the 1980s voluntary export restraints, negotiated by the Japanese government and U.S. trade representatives, restricting mainstream car sales. The initial success of the Legend and Honda's Acura division in competing against established European and American luxury manufacturers would lead to Toyota and Nissan creating the Lexus and Infiniti brands, respectively, to compete in the luxury car market. Read more...
The Acura CDX is a subcompact luxury crossover SUV by Acura, a luxury subsidiary of Honda. The car made its debut at Auto China in 2016. The CDX is produced at the ZengCheng Plant in Guangzhou, China and was first sold in July 2016. As of 2016[update], the CDX was planned as a Chinese Domestic Market (CDM) model with Acura announcing it has no plans to launch in North America. However, Acura had considered selling the CDX in the United States according to comments in April 2017 by Jon Ikeda, group vice president of Acura USA. Read more...
The Acura RLX is an executive car manufactured by Honda and sold under their Acura division, released in 2013. Succeeding the Acura RL, the RLX offers two versions, a front-wheel drive base model equipped with Acura's Precision All-Wheel Steer (P-AWS) four-wheel steering system, and a hybrid variant featuring SH-AWD that serves as Acura's flagship. However, in Honda Legend, front-wheel drive is not offered. Read more...
The Acura TL is a compact executive / entry-level luxury car that was manufactured by Acura. It was introduced in 1995 to replace the Acura Legend and was badged for the Japanese-market from 1996 to 2000 as the Honda Inspire and from 1996 to 2004 as the Honda Saber. The TL was Acura's best-selling model until it was outsold by the MDX in 2007. While it once ranked as the second best-selling luxury sedan in the United States behind the BMW 3 Series, sales have decreased by over 50% since then. TL sales have been negatively affected by both the recession as well as negative publicity due to styling issues in the last generation. Four generations of the Acura TL were produced, with the final fourth generation TL premiering in 2008 as a 2009 model and ending production in 2014, when it was replaced together with the TSX by the TLX. In its last year, the TL was sold in Japan. Read more...
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Selected images
2016 Acura NSX
1992–1994 Acura Vigor
2012 Acura TL
2015 Acura TLX
First generation Acura TSX
2005 Acura RL
Third generation Acura Integra
Third generation Acura MDX
First generation Acura MDX
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