crxb

sorry if repost

doesn't look good for performance in the future

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2009...NEWS/911029995

Acura is reversing course in North America as the brand suffers through the shift from high-performance luxury vehicles and the cancellation of its V8 and rear-wheel-drive programs.

There is "a certain level of confusion" about Acura in the marketplace, Honda Motor Co. CEO Takanobu Ito told Automotive News at the Tokyo auto show. "We are in the midst of big changes. We've changed the direction of research and development."

It appeared that Honda finally had acquiesced to matching top-tier luxury brands with V8 and rear-drive vehicles--only to scrap those plans after the Lehman Bros. collapse and the economic tumble that followed. That has sent engineers and designers back to the drawing board, Ito said.

'Low-growth period'

"Pre-Lehman, we did have the idea to produce more multicylinder engines," Ito said through an interpreter. "I see the future of Acura as a merger of BMW and Audi--something between high technology and high performance."

As a result of this midstream change, Acura will be in a "low-growth period of developing new products," Ito said.

"We were thinking that we could come up with glamorous, gorgeous products that would sell. Now, our premium products will be expressed in advanced environmental technologies, rather than glamorous things attached to the product," he said.

The change has unsettled Acura dealers who recently invested in fancy showrooms designed to compete against Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Lexus.

Eighteen months ago, Acura dealers were promised five additional products, which would have given them a total of 10 nameplates. But all that has changed.

Acura dealers were informed of the reversal at last week's national dealer meeting in Chicago.

Multifranchise dealer Dave Conant, who built an Acura store in Mission Viejo, Calif., said he admires Acura's candor about its predicament but says many dealers may not be able to wait out the transition.

"The direction of product will be completely different from where it was a few years ago," Conant said. "The previous direction of shooting for being a Tier 1 luxury brand is not going to be the same."

Dealers have blanched at the brand's flailing to find its niche among performance, efficiency, luxury and technology. At American Honda Motor Co.'s urging, many dealers recently had built Taj Majal showrooms, which opened just as the recession hit.

Acura is suffering through its fourth straight year of declining sales. A brand that once sold more than 200,000 units annually will be lucky to sell half that number this year.

Not that the product pipeline is barren. At the dealer meeting, Acura executives revealed that a wagon version of the TSX--a reskinned version of the European Honda Accord wagon--will arrive next fall. It joins the ZDX crossover arriving this winter, but both products are low-volume additions and are not expected to make much of an impact in the market.

'Sensible luxury vehicles'

Acura officials hinted at a return to the entry-luxury segment to compete against the BMW 1 series and Audi A1. Hybrid vehicles also will be part of the plan. No timelines were given for those vehicles.

"They talked a lot about smart, efficient and sensible luxury vehicles, not big, in-your-face luxury cars that don't make sense," said Jim Brown, general manager of Ron Tonkin Acura in Portland, Ore. "They said there will be a new product introduced every year. ... But there also is a delay in the pipeline."



Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2009...#ixzz0VkYDW6Uf

pinina

iTrader: (2)

that sucks

BLACKURA_NY

iTrader: (6)

so much for a Coupe, or a NSX/HSC for Acura.

YetiTL

It's pretty much was Honda saud last month no?

Well, we could say: "only time will tell" but to be honest...I think it sucks. If I wanted a sensible choice, I would have kept my Civic and be car payment free for now. I don't want all the line up to be sensible, that will be overkill. If they want to offer most of their products to be sensible, its all good but please keep some performance-oriented products.

Rant:

While the desired middle ground of luxury and performance is well and good, it was already the case: Acura offers nice luxury and good performance but nothing "class leading" maybe except on-board technology and crash test ratings but even then...

We now have a 6MT TL that matches pretty evenly the best offering in this category for performance and luxury...why not making the 6AT TL as good to crystallize the TL position as one fine luxury car...

The sad fact is that with the new G and the 3 series coming out next year. The TL will likely fall behind unless Acura react accordingly...

Rant off.

Have a good day!
-YetiTL

CleanCL

iTrader: (4)

Honda is very smart. They realize the US economy is going into the gutter, and that all of the yuppies who can no longer afford the note on their Benz and Beamers will turn to the next best solution. Do they jump into a Hyundai, or at least save face and go to a more reasonably priced semi luxury car in Acura? I'd say they go for the Acura.

You guys all bitch about the next super car coupe, etc, etc, but IMO Honda is very smart and they are planning for the next 5+ years when people are just struggling to put food on the table. When it's all said and done, Honda will be in a good spot to produce whatever they feel like eventually, including a sports car.

CleanCL

iTrader: (4)

Oh and you guys say Acura offers nothing class leading, only the highest safety rating, highest resale (THINK ECONOMY!), and some of the most advanced technology. Nope, nothing that would interest the majority of people who don't want to drop tons of money on Beamers and Benz...

...who cares about performance when you need to feed you family!

dtc5

THAT.REALLY.SUCKS.

There is nothing wrong being a sensible luxury brand but there still needs to be innovations introduced.

YetiTL

I value your opinion CleanCL and I understand Honda is going for the sensible approach. I'm just not too hot to have a lineup with only sensible choices. That's all. Acura makes beautiful interiors, in fact I love the TL interior and it was a big selling point for me. As for crash test ratings, I'll let everybody judge what it's worth for them. The company offers awesome tech inside so that's cool too. In fact, its a great value brand, unequaled by any, especially in Canada (Think Audi S4 fully loaded for 90K$ CAN with sale tax included, at least in Quebec). As for the resale, it's still hard to know for the 4G TL but time will tell. I'm sure it'll be great.

dtc5 summed it up best: I'm comfortable with the sensible approach as long as it's not the only approach.

Or maybe I should stop worrying so much about what the product lineup will be in the near future and enjoy my new car and life in general. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

I didn't meant to sound whiny and phony, sorry if I did.

Have a good day!
-YetiTL

PetesTL

Why is any of this surprising? We are in the midst of one of the worst recessions in this country's history. The auto industry is in shambles. Acura/Honda already announced earlier this year that they are not into the "horsepower" wars or the "glitz" wars anymore and instead will focus on fuel efficiency and smart, cost-effective technology. The CAFE standard is looming on the horizon and the V8 is slowly being put out to pasture. It all makes sense.

Personally, I don't care. I don't work for Acura or own stock in the company. When my lease ends late next year, I'm moving on to something else. The competition is fierce and there's a lot of great cars out there. Good luck to Acura.

YetiTL

Well it's not surprising considering what was announced last month. I think you have a good attitude:if Acura offers something I want for the next car, then I'll buy it from them, if not, then I'm sure some other manufacturer will be happy to sell me a car I'll enjoy.

Every ca rmanufacturer has to settle for a direction and of course, there'll be winners and losers, customers gained and lost. Time will tell if the "sensible" approach will enable Acura to survivre, thrive and expand in the mid-long term.

bagbklyn

This makes sense for Acura because it seems like they are kind of lost. You slot the TL above your flagship RL with the TL having more power and lower price. You have the specs of the TL going against the 5 series in space and trying to go against the 3 series in performance. Acura definitely missed some point while making the TL to make it to tier one while keeping the cost down. While they included everything in a great package sutff like keyless entry to all four doors, or door lights while walking to the car. You see cars like lexus an audi have keyless open option to all 4 doors , trying to put a child in the car would be nice to just touch the door instead of going to the front and then to the back.sorry just a rant, why couldn't Acura do that? Well it makes sense now because they are quite going after tier 1 luxury. I commend them for that, it just nice they make it known so that everyone doesn't expect certain things from Acura. I also after this lease will probably be looking at the other brands since they might have more to offer along the lines of tier 1 for a little bit more money.

CleanCL

iTrader: (4)

When I say you guys, I'm not trying to single out anyone. This just tends to be the general sentiment.

As far as sensible approach, well I think they went out on a limb and did a pretty radical design change. That's a huge step. That's the 'image' it decided to take for the next 5-6 years.

Also keep in mind from their business standpoint. Where do you make profit? Selling to a niche, or selling to the majority?

Oh and in case you guys missed it...
"German carmaker BMW AG said Tuesday its net income fell 74 percent in the third quarter as it continued to be affected by the global economic downturn.

BMW, the world's biggest luxury car company by sales, said net income for the period amounted to euro78 million ($115 million), down from euro298 million in the July-September period of 2008."

You don't really see a headline like that coming out of Honda even if the Acura lineup sales has declined.

YetiTL

Yeah, no worries.

I understand quite well as I have the same mentality with business: better make a good profit out of fewer clients than making a razor thin margin on numerous clients.

Obviously, I don't have inventory to manage and space to clear for new cars every year but still...

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

Gentlemen, there is already a thread about this here:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...0#post11460030