TampaRLX-SH

http://www.autospies.com/news/Honda-...For-May-30677/

Consistent numbers for the RL, even a tick up, considering the auto market on average is dropping 10-15%.

Honda actually increased sales, of course due to fuel efficient CIVICs. Acura is off, 10%, expected as a drop in luxury and less fuel efficient vehicles. Acura's shift to more utility vehicles may become an achilles heel. I would like to see the RSX back as an Acura option for my empty garage bay alongside my RL.

It will be interesting to see if Acura slides less than other premium marques with less efficient vehicles? (ie. V8s) or will the prestige market remain ambivalent to market conditions (for now).

robarsan

RL sales down 42% from May 07?! OUCH

TampaRLX-SH

True, but RLs have been selling approx at 300 units per month for the last 6 months. So 390 is a good number, relatively speaking.

And inventory is way down from last year this time, so total sales should be lower.

Trackruner228

iTrader: (1)

Not to mention I havent seen a singal RL commerical. Acura has been doing a good job pushing the 09 TSX so I am curious if they do all the advertising on the RL if it will sell well. They have gotten MUCH better at commericals the new TSX and MDX commericals are AWESOME.

Chas2

Just had my recall done last week along with a bunch of other things, and when I was there I saw maybe 10 RLs sitting in the lot, two CMBS, and 6 or 7 Techs and 1 base

Pohanka Acura

DoctorTuna

There are 6 or 7 08 RL left on my local dealer lots as well. I think one of the reasons behind this corresponds to the lease factors. Acura obviously would rather sell than lease the RL. The residual value is drastically low and even when the dealer dropped the net capitalized cost to $4000 under invoice my payment was going to be $65 more per month than my 05 RL. Part of the problem is the money factor of 3.9%. If they really wanted to move the RL they would have a more competitive money factor. The Audi A6 has a money factor of 0.8% and you can get a very competitive monthly payment for a similarly equipped vehicle. Based on the lack of marketing and the apparent disdain for the 09 I suspect sales won't be that much better for it.

DivinDude

You'd think that the remaining RL's would be scooped up before the 'ugly' upgrade hits the streets. Be interesting to see how sales fall off once that 'grille' makes a showing

CL6

Looking at those numbers it's amazing... when I was with the company we posted 200,000+ sales for the first time in history. Looks like that's not gonna happen anytime soon. How the mighty fall.

What I want to know is what was wrong with the old Acura grille/identity that they spent so many years building... I thought it was distinctive and refined. Not as big of a mistake changing Datsun to Nissan but, still, odd.

///M Roadster

at this rate, this car could be a collectors' item that they may not care for

i have to dissagree with bringing back RSX into acura line up. although integra, back in the days, must have helped with the sales number, i believe integra's mass appeal to young people, and their tendency to rice out their integras probably did not do well to establish the "upscale" image of Acura.

when people see hundreds of integras with weird stickers, coffee can exhausts, sometimes bigger tires in the back (for a front wheel drive car...), etc...for many years...looking at another acura emblem may not quite inspire "the upscale" luxury car image...

just like...hyundai...they've been selling crap for many years and when people see hyundai emblem, they immediately think of crap. and that probably does not help sell genesis much.

RL...heck of a car...but if you apply the same logic...part of the reason why RL sells so little can be explained. of course, we have lack of ads as well. but who needs ads, when riced out integras still roam around the streets.

TampaRLX-SH

Although I agree and understand why Acura dropped the RSX from the lineup to elevate the brand status, it does not mean I still cannot desire to have an Acura RSX in my stable.

Just because many choose to 'rice' their vehichles does not mean I cannot desire the car in it's intended form. And if the concern is over what modifications would do to the brand perception, have you been on the TL forums? The TL crowd is heavily infiltrated with 'youthful enthusiasm'.

And now that the RL has been on the market and used / off-lease models become more available, I see that 'youthful enthusiasm' trickling into the RL inerest forums.

I personally do not see Acura as a big car, big engine car company. I realize I am very much in the minority, but I would be very happy to see a small 4 cylinder / manual offering sporty coupe / hatchback with a 'A' on the front. And for the price asked, I felt the RSX was an excellent choice as a stablemate for my RL.

///M Roadster

There is nothing wrong with someone wanting RSX in his stable. I was talking in terms of RL sale numbers and how RSX (integra more so) probably did not help boost Acura's "luxo" image much. Heck, ITR is one of cars that I would love to have as a joy rider.

You mentioned some of young uns moving to RL side. Who knows, maybe some of them may rice out their RLs. One thing I could count on, riced out RLs will be far less than riced out integras because RLs just did not sell much.