Originally Posted by jhr3uva90

I think it's a decision Honda's going to have to make in Japan. Do they want to follow the same route Audi has taken or go RWD like everyone else. In fact, GM is considering making Pontiac AWD as well.

Originally Posted by jhr3uva90

I think it's a decision Honda's going to have to make in Japan. Do they want to follow the same route Audi has taken or go RWD like everyone else. In fact, GM is considering making Pontiac AWD as well.

Originally Posted by mrdeeno

I think Honda/Acura is stuck...they usually want to go their own way, but in this case they are out of realistic options.

Several years ago people were predicting that Honda/Acura would go hard-core with the hybrid route, showcasing the dualnote and RD-X concept (the crazy looking one a couple years back, not the production based concept) which were both supposedly going to bring hybrids into performance cars.

But now that Toyota/Lex has stolen the hybrid limelight from Honda/Acura and the fact that they don't seem to be embracing hybrids as they once did, Honda/Acura is stuck with traditional concepts to work with...unless they get really creative and come up with something totally out of this world. Honda/Acura may be doing well in sales, but as of late, they haven't been coming up with products to really boost the brand/image that they once did (NSX, vtec, s2000)

Originally Posted by jhr3uva90

Yes, it makes me wonder if cars are still Honda's priority. . .

Originally Posted by mrdeeno

I don't want to risk another "Why RL sales sucks" flamewar, but i'm going to express my opinion on this anyway. If you agree, great, if not, great.

1) Yes, RL sales are low due to lack of prestige, which is a stupid reason, but a REAL reason nonetheless. How to increase sales? Increase prestige!

2) How to increase prestige? by competing with the established prestigous brands...MB/BMW, and to an extent, Lex. In order to compete, they have to offer more or less the same "variety" of choices to the demanding luxury buyer.

3) Major choices that every other luxury make seems to offer is engine choices (6, 8, and sometimes more), drive choices (RWD, AWD), and options choices (tech packages, prem. packages, a la carte, etc.).

None of the established makes offer the same number or type of choices, but they are similar in that there is more "customization" that is possible for their cars, especially when it comes to major options.

Now some of y'all continue to maintain that the slow sales are due to lack of V8 and RWD. In a way, it is...because this is what the "established" brands offer, and if Acura doesn't offer it, people won't consider Acura "established" at the same level.

So to sum it up:

Other Prestigous makes offer V8+RWD+options+etc ==> General public perceives V8+RWD+options+etc as synonymous with prestigious brands.

Acura lacks V8+RWD+options+etc ==> General public perceives Acura as not as prestigous as others ==> Luxury buyers among the general public would rather buy from a prestigous brand.

Having these things does not translate directly to more sales...it is a halo-effect that makes the public consider the brand more prestigious.

Is this politically correct, logical, or even fair? Hell no! But it's reality that the general public is NOT politically correct, logical or fair.

There are the few people who are enthusiasts and can see cars past the badge, but for every 1 of these people, there are 1000 people who don't care about what's past the badge. Acura ALREADY scored the few buyers who look past the badge...they need to score buyers who won't look past the badge if they want to sell more.

They also lost buyers like myself, who are willing to look past the badge, but DO want a V8 and other options. How many of these buyers are there? I have no idea but there are probably a few. But buyers like me are not the key to scoring more sales...buyers like the rich dude next door's trophy wife is the key to scoring more sales.

You listening, Acura? Score the neighbors trophy wife and you're golden!

Originally Posted by rickzamp

I think everything you said is true but shouldn't you add just a terrible customer service experience and I think it's also true that word of all of the problems discussed here has gotten around.

Just how bad are RL sales?