HotRodW

fiatlux

Looks like Acura wants to start selling yachts?

HotRodW

https://www.motor1.com/news/730190/a...e-suv-concept/

The ZDX was Acura's first foray into electrification. But at this year's Montery Car Week, the luxury brand is showing an electric SUV concept that previews its next production EV. Unlike the ZDX, this one will use a totally unique EV platform.

Acura calls it the Performance EV concept. The coupe-like SUV has a long wheelbase with short overhangs, introducing an entirely new design language for the brand. The front end has a pointed nose, a vented hood, and extra-wide headlights. If you squint, it looks like some modern Buicks (sorry).

In sticking with trends, the Performance EV concept has a sleek coupe-like profile and a full-width light bar on the rear. Sizeable 23-inch wheels wrapped in 295/35R23 performance tires hide four-piston brakes with neon green accents.

This concept has no specs, but as mentioned, this will be Acura's first electric vehicle on the brand's first dedicated EV platform. So it won't use GM’s Ultium platform. This SUV will also be manufactured at Honda's EV Hub in Marysville, Ohio.

"The Acura Performance EV Concept is the archetype of Acura Performance in the electrified era, taking full advantage of the extreme design freedom of stance and proportion offered by our next-generation EV platform to push the boundaries of Acura design even further," said Dave Marek, Acura Design Executive. "As with our previous Acura concept vehicles, the Acura Performance EV Concept introduces a number of design themes that will be seen on future Acura vehicles."

This is the fifth concept Acura has debuted during Monterey Car Week. The original NSX concept showed up to Monterey in 2013, the Precision concept in 2016, the Type S concept in 2019, and the Precision EV concept in 2022. And like all of those concepts prior, we fully expect this one to reach production.

HotRodW

So here's a potentially silly question ... Are we looking at the new RDX, with this being a second "coupe" body style? (A traditional body could be revealed later.) It would explain why there has been no mention of a replacement RDX, and why so little was updated for 2025.

HotRodW

Bingo! Acura says that the front end takes inspiration from hydrofoil superyachts. I've read several comments suggesting Acura is borrowing Buick's design language. They aren't completely wrong.

HotRodW

It's being reported that this is Acura's new flagship product, sitting above the MDX. I guess it's bigger than it looks.

Tony Pac

Thanks for sharing. This looks like to me the 2016 concept style. It won't be a production model but Acura will take inspiration front his to build their next generation of vehicles. Again, I could be very wrong but this looks very sophisticated, unless Acura wants to really move up. This won't be an actual car. Now it's time to wait and see...everything else will be just speculation!

Pens Fan

They better go back to the drawing board-I have one word UGLY.

dxntxn

Oh no, not another BEAK!

swttsx007

Super ugly! I wouldn't buy one based on its looks! So many of these futuristic concepts look like complete crap!

markm929

I enjoy the sight of the air scoops on the front of an electric vehicle

supafamous

I like my EVs to take advantage of the packaging advantages that are available (like how the Ioniq5 has tonnes of room due to the long wheelbase or that many of them have frunks) but otherwise I'd prefer that they are just normal cars.

I don't know what Acura is thinking here - it's hideous, and impractical in every way (sightlines, packaging etc).

jmhumr

What they revealed isn’t a production car. It’s just the “design direction” for a future model. This barely deserved a press release.

sonyfever

Acura did a poor job on the official PR photos. The car looks more promising in first-look videos.

I feel Acura tried too hard fitting elements for a sports car and a SUV on the same concept. The rear looks production ready and belongs to SUV. The front could work for both, and the side is more sports car.

If you take the "effort" into account, and ignore some of the mismatched details, the concept should make more sense. I still wish they iterate on Precision EV instead, as Precision EV is far more cohesive than this new concept.

Shadow2056

I kind of like the look of it. Not happy that Acura is doing this whole EV thing but it still looks good tho. As I've seen from the past concepts, they don't tend to vary TOO much to the production model. Except the 2nd gen TLX....that was a little disappointment but I was still happy with the outcome. Hopefully this one will be more powerful if they're calling it a "performance EV". Rear looks like a Lotus. I keep seeing European lines and ideas in Honda/Acura since they brought the designer from Audi in 2017-18.

jmhumr

They’re most likely for aerodynamic efficiency. Just a more aggressive style of the scoops currently feeding into the RDX wheel well. This has become a pretty common design feature as EVs strive to minimize as much drag as possible.

HotRodW

Automotive News is now speculating precisely what I was concerned about ... the production version of this Performance concept will be sold alongside the updated RDX for a short time before ultimately replacing it. If correct, this is essentially the next generation RDX.

sonyfever

Listen to Dave Marek's story on the PEV concept, it is an interesting and informative one as he connected the dots from "Concept V" (Precision EV), ZDX, to PEV

He basically confirmed the production EV will be positioned closer to RDX at least in size.

Good luck to Dave now he is moving into semi-retirement role.

RDX10

If that's the case Acura should probably save themselves some time and money and shutter the doors now. You do NOT screw around with the compact class SUV's and expect to stick around.