joe80

It's doable. never say never. luxury doesn't have to be big v8 or 80k flagship.

1. drop the beak
2. improve the fuel economy
3. add a small hot hatch.
4. lower the price
5. add a hybrid

whatever they do, it all starts with a simple and clean design. that's what acura once was.

LexFather

Read between the lines everyone. Basically we get the Acura El/CSX civic rebadge Canada laughs at. That is how sales will increase.

Henry is right and it's been mentioned by every major mag. Dropping the name Legend etc for these worthless new letters was a horrible mistake. The RL has failed since 1996. Who cares what the new version will do it has failed for too long.

The current gen never met it's 20k first year sales goal and it's beat months were the Nov-Jan before the new GS an M 35/45 debuted. Sales plummeted after.

I mean look at the ads in print and on tv. They are scared to show their own front ends!

RNM GS3

Lets see......
No RWD
No Hybrid
No V8
No Flagship
Halo car goes from NSX to ZDX

Im honestly surprised that they can still sell 100k cars per year.

mmarshall

Can't have it both ways, though. On one hand, we've had several posts (not necessarily from you) criticizing the slow-selling RL, but the NSX sold in even fewer numbers. Keeping the NSX in production may (?) have been a good idea from an image/enthusiast point of view, but it certainly wasn't good buisness sense. In addition, for several years, the company simply couldn't make up its mind about what the replacement 2Gen model was going to be like.....or if it was ever going to go into production at all. We kept getting different news....and different plans......from Acura, almost on a daily basis. With the all-aluminum construction, the 1Gen model was also, obviously, an expensive car to produce.

mmarshall

Is the new TL's rear end any better? IMO, if so not much.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

imho better than the front. i mean, if they can't show the front but also say don't show the rear, what else can they show, the sides and the roof?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

1. if they actually listen
2. they need to catch up
3. it would help i guess
4. the marketing is lowering it pretty well for them already
5. with the new insight being a tremendous disappointment? land of far far away

but of course, anything is possible. acura (or honda) has such a long way to go

TRDFantasy

Agreed completely. It will either be the CSX, or some sort of CR-Z rebadge.

Acura has been failing for years, and I think Acura executives have completely lost it if they think they can achieve 200K annual sales in a few years.

How do they intend on increasing volume so much? Selling vehicles in the low-to-mid 20K range?

The competition will only get stronger.

None of Acura's big sellers are getting redesigned in the next few years, with the exception of the MDX.

TL won't be redesigned until 2014 at the earliest. Same thing with the TSX. The MDX is the only model that will be redesigned soon.

IMHO that and adding some lower-cost model won't be enough to reach 200K, not even close.

By 2013-2014, I expect competition will be fierce.

This is just another useless press release as they have done in the past.

You are right, they refuse to admit their mistakes, and they refuse to change their ways.

Classic Honda ignorance and stubborn attitude at work .

mmarshall

I agree, Henry......but that wasn't quite the meaning (or intention) of my post. Mike was (correctly) stating that Acura ads often don't show the TL's front end, and I pointed out that showing the rear end may simply have been the lesser of two evils (but not by much). It's like a choice between showing Michael Moore with a 5-day beard vs. a 7-day one.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

lol, my response is "wtf, do i really have to choose?"

and i knew what you meant mike, my post was more of an extra joke on acura on top of yours. seriously, maybe the roof is the best looking part of the car

mmarshall

Though I didn't particularly like the loss of the interior wood trim option in the current model over the last, the current interior is (arguably) the best-looking part of the TL. Not much on the outside is good-looking, as you note.

encore888

In terms of image, the Legend was definitely the bigger loss. The trend may be headed back towards actual words as names--really not helping that they went from the memorable Legend to the forgettable RL name. I've since given up on them bringing back the original names, but it's fun to imagine...

...however from a sales perspective, the RL/Legend is no longer all that relevant. With the TSX getting a V6, I'd argue that they move towards a TL as flagship, TSX as entry-level. A two-model system like the Infiniti/Cadillac approach, with a larger and smaller model, both class-between in size. Acura could get a jump-start with its hybrids, and perhaps a TSX coupe/hatch (aka Integra reborn) could add much-needed volume. The ZDX is a niche model, and sadly so is the NSX. MDX is the volume leader, RDX is also rather niche-like.

With the focus on TSX, TL, and MDX, the key problem is fixing the TL sales, and to that end I do think the polarizing styling has something to do with it.

Fizzboy7

While on this topic, I found it very interesting to learn our local Acura dealership here in the San Fernando Valley just closed down (Keyes Acura). They were one of the first to open up when Acura got started, and have consistently been one of the top-volume dealers in the U.S. So to have THEM shut down shop, is not a good sign for the future.

TRDFantasy

Wow, really? That is definitely not good news.

On a related matter, I recently passed by my local Acura dealership recently. They are a pretty big Acura dealer, and I actually saw several new TL and TSX models on their lot with no grilles. Then I also saw several models beside them with painted grilles (painted black). My guess is that those models with no grilles were getting their grilles painted.

I should have taken a picture and sent it to Honda Japan . I can just imagine the conflict and frustration going on. Dealers are furious that the cars are not selling, and are resorting to painting grilles.

Honda is probably furious that the market won't accept their new Acura products . That and they are furious at the dealers. Honda probably thinks their North American executives are not doing a good enough job selling their products. I bet in typical Honda ignorant mentality, Honda big shots in Japan are convinced the market likes these new Acuras .

rominl

iTrader: (4)

to be fair, they were sold to center, so the current one is down and a new one will be opened again