It's beena giant failship since 1996 and this will sadly be no different. They still don't get it.

Like BMW and Lexus, Acura is now going for their hoffmeister kink so the RL will have the now common curved c pillar and overall keep similar proportions. I find it utterly hilarious how the GS 450h was based by some fans and here comes a hybrid RL. that said I welcome these new hybrid Hondas and I'm glad they are being finally offered.

It is my understanding they dropped mechanical for electric so they can more easily go back to offering a FWD RL as the entry level model and the sh awd hybrid will be the top of the line model. Makes sense from a cost standpoint but still being accord based means fwd.

USDM Honda told JDM Honda drop the car but Japan wants to build it even as the current RL is one of the worst selling cars everywhere it's sold, Canada, America, Europe (legend) where they dropped it already. The fact is while sh awd is awesome it doesn't attract many enthusiasts at all. In 7-8 years has anyone seen a RL at the track or drag strip? There are a handful modified in 7-8 years.

Not even sure why they bothered with this failship. Can a hybrid power train save the Legend/RL?

 

Acura had better make a car that can at least compete with the GS450h and Infiniti M35h. Both of those cars get 34 and 32 mpg respectively and get to 60 in 5.5-5.6 seconds. While I feel that neither have "V8" power(a modern V8 in this class of car has 400 hp at least) they still post mid 5 second times and still are agile cars. The RL better be able to do something otherwise it will flop like a fish caught in that bird beak of theirs. Deep down I feel like Acura can pull this off because if not then they will lose much more at this point than most other automakers.

 

I don't even see them on the road......

 

The only thing the RL, 7 series, S-class have in common is that they're the company's flagship model.The RL was never made to compete with those cars, but rather the 5-series and E-class, although I must say Honda did a terrible job. I'm not in the market for a car of that class right now, but if I were to, it wouldn't be the RL unless they did something substantial to it.

 

No 1 is going to buy these

 

The technology sounds impressive as does the line of having the exterior/interior size of a 5/7 series respectively. However, visually the car will not appear much bigger than the TL which will probably see its exterior dimensions shrink in size when redesigned - after the new RL comes out. One of the RL's problems has been that it's price increase over the TL has never truly been justified.

The conservative styling statement can be taken both ways. The RL has always been bland in they styling department - but their attempt at trying to make stylish cars was abysmal.