You should buy exactly what you like regardless of what the chatting class on the net has to say.

Why sales are of interest to some of us is for the availability development funds & product improvement. If a car is close to or missing the corporate ROI hurdle it does not get the funding it would get if there were more sales.

Look at the things that have gone away.....Summer Tire option, 6MT option, Brembo Brakes, Limited slip differential, Semi performance option (S-Type), A-Spec suspension upgrades, Wishbone front suspension to plain struts & so on.

The large group of "I like the TLX just the way it is" on this site sort of indicates the shift in Acura's base moving away from the more typical performance buyer & why they have moved all performance offerings into the TV adds & not the car.

This leaves the TLX as a very nice family car but there are a whole lot of very nice family cars competing for the business. In that arena the car is not a standout nor does it have name recognition like Lexus or some of the others.

They are already being pressed from below in their own product family like the updated Accord running LED headlights & other electronic options at an attractive price.

 

Will disagree. He was head of marketing whos whole future was tied up in selling lots of units after the 4G. The TLX was going to bring back the sedan to the forefront in what had become a SUV centric company.

If he had seen a non home run TLX then it was his job to get it fixed. So he was either a weak manager & did not push for changes or too thick to see he had a potential winner in the red prototype.

 

We can agree that probably was not a strong manager, if Acura (Honda) management did not budge and give to him the car necessary to do the job he should have left on his own before.

But I really think that with the TLX in its current form it was impossible to get better results than this....he should not have signed into the "Thrill" marketing campaign...it sounds plain silly with the car the way it is.

 

I'm guessing there's about 40000 TLX owners who agree with you. Most of them probably don't know or care how many they sell each month.

 

It seems to matter most to those who have intention of buying one.. odd, isn't it?

 

Agree, it can't walk the talk.

They needed a smooth, quiet, semi-luxury, family oriented campaign.

I remember when the original Lexus MB knockoff came out. The whole campaign was built on quiet, cabin isolation & price.

Look how that turned out for Toyota.

 

Agree, many of you don't care & like having the only TLX on the block. Makes it sort of exclusive.

That said, its a big deal to Honda/Acura senior management who are either taking pay cuts or getting whacked over only selling 40K units. 40K units is far away from peak TL annual sales of 77/78K units.

Its also far away from the official or semi official first year target of 60K unit.

 

And you would hope that Acura would ask why the car hasn't sold 60,000 units or whatever their target was. Year one is almost over.....what is Acura going to do with the refresh to get those of us on the fence to come on over before the competition takes away more sales. That to me is why they should be interested in the real sales numbers and not percentage growth from a car that was discontinued.

 

RE Accavitti's resignation:

http://www.autonews.com/article/2015...-post-at-acura

 

Funny thing about % increases. If you sell one last year & 2 this year you have a 100% increase.

 

Your case is typical of some other 3G owners.....turned off by the 4G but not on board with the TLX, they do not feel the same "magic" of the 3G when it came out.

Some of you that wanted to stay within the Acura family have "broken down" and snapped the last remaining 4Gs available or bought a lightly used one and others, like many 4G owners themselves, are looking elsewhere.

 

....they need a new car......

 

As far as home based demographics, the 3G was prevalent in many areas, thing about the 4G was that it barely missed a beat in many of the prime markets which I thought was interesting, seems it was outside of the northeast where it declined. Think that was largely a component of FWD still being very predominate in luxury brands (even with all that torque steer) and still accepted at the time especially for sport labelled vehicles. While later on it was more a matter of necessity over acceptability.

When the 4G hit the market aside from the recession, increased pricing and the styling controversy, I don't think people continued to see it as an equal or true competitor in the sports luxury segment any longer, maybe except for the 6MT which was already larger in segment, more expensive for a TL and only AWD, limiting it's appeal but overall the landscape had changed. It was more strictly viewed as an ES, LaCrosse, Maxima, CC, etc competitor, and for the other reasons it lost sales to them. The AWD version was a bit out of reach for what the 3G shoppers were used to at least in sticker and the FWD version was in many people's mind the 2nd rate TL product behind the AWD now.

Interesting to note though that even when the TL sold twice as much Acura was in no better a position in terms of brand sales, still remained relatively the same, 4th-5th rank as is today. Now the TLX having replaced 2 models, keeping in mind the ILX is a new one, that we have "recovered" more now then before economically speaking, and the cheaper price points, it's safe to say it's not doing much if any better. I don't know what that says about all the things that have been made out of the 4G but I have some ideas.

With the the 4G it seemed Acura wanted to still be a player in the sports part of the segment while attempting to give it consideration as an also competitor to many mid size luxury vehicles, which fundamentally it could have been and for some it actually was. Thought it was a decent approach but perhaps the other things held it back then again people complained of the ride and mpg.

Now they want the TLX to be a more focused and rounded product in the segment which is fine. Lots of great things went into improving it like sound proofing, weight reduction, lowering, enhanced SH, weight distribution brake components, and that besides all the tech and other improvements etc but at the same time they have room for growth there, for the segment not necessarily vs the other TL's, that they are not taking advantage of in the sport department and may have alienated many previous buyers with the reduced interior space.

Otherwise fine if the RLX fills that gap but they both seemed to have increased it and there is no traditional SH version RLX at that discount for some to go to. And things like tire and brake size and softening the suspension, etc. Which is probably a welcome balance for the mainstream and hopefully done on purpose to save room for an A-spec or S which sadly exactly what is missing and probably all it needs. Especially to finally coincide with it's marketing approach and to further help distance itself from the Accord where it needs a bit of help as well.

As far as Accavitti, it's hard to say maybe Acura only has what it has because of him, maybe he didn't push at all, who really knows? As far as I know the DCT and 9AT took some insisting. The NSX looked like something Acura was never going to put out again and Honda wanted it to be badged a Honda and, as good or bad as it may be, the SH-SH in the RLX needed to happen if they are not set on other drivetrain implementations.

 

When the 3G came out, it still had very clear advantage in specs and performance compared to the mainstream midsize sedans.

The 4G was bigger, had a very advanced AWD system for its time, it did break the "psychological" barrier of 300 hp and upgraded upscale interiors.

Not so with the TLX, the "semi-premium" segment is disappearing....and the classic tier 1 luxury badges are dipping their toes in the $30K market space.


We live in an era of 260 HP Chevy Malibu, 280 CV Honda Accords and 295 HP Chrysler 200....and ~30K BMW 320i.......mainstream brand midsize sedans are increasing in price and specs/features and Tier 1 entry level luxury sedan are lowering the price of entry.....simply not enough space for Acuras and Maximas.....

Nissan is trying to keep the Maxima alive upping the ante (300 HP and is rumored AWD later on), dramatically upgraded interiors (in my opinion currently the best in its price range)...will be interesting to see how it will sell.

 

^Well said, much of what I alluded to earlier, there is less room for Honda + or an in between premium or semi premium brand. Other products are reaching up and others down as you stated. They're getting squeezed out.

Now that is not to say that all of Acura products are in between and not luxury but not exactly mainstream either, in many individual model/trim vs model/trim and depending on how it's equipped, it can actually be better or viewed as more luxurious and what not but the brand as a whole is not usually seen as Tier 1 (agree or disagree) mostly because they have too small a lineup and only offer trims and models for core markets, they do not reach far or high enough as most luxury brands do and where they have, they have largely failed at it.

This naturally has it's advantages elsewhere too (minus the failing part), it's a leaner and meaner business approach and they do well, again, surprisingly for the number of models available but it's safe to say there are enough status buyers out there as well as enthusiasts and people paying attention to that sort of thing, not to mention media outlets, where those things do matter and have large impacts.

If interest rates continue to increase, the deals start to get weaker and the cheap lease starts going away, that area of the market will probably start to grow again and at the same time I do not think they need to emulate or go all in as some of the other brands do even now maybe just move towards splitting the difference. Even for Tier 2 it's been a little bit lackluster with the advancements in the mainstream markets but it seems they know that and are reacting accordingly.

The SH-SH RLX is back, NSX will be here, add a couple of solid and competitive sport trims, a coupe, a bit more refinement and few nicer touches here and there and that's about it for now IMO. All of which I think is justified in both cost and improvement it could bring to the brand's image and competitiveness. I say this as a supporter with good intentions and still believe the level of practical and objectifiable value, sport-luxury balance, resale, and reliability combined is still among the best.

 

I actually think the move upmarket by mainstream and downmarket by upstream makes is good for Acura overall.

If more people are buying cars from $30-40K that means Acura has more potential buyers.

And it forces Acura to be absolutely the best they can be so they stand out more. Acura has to deliver and that is good news for fans of Acura.

 

just a quick comment. I think we are overanalyzing Acura's sales here. lol

If you like the brand/car go of it and stop analyzing sales and profit for Acura. As i mentioned earlier Infiniti sold 81K units this year so far. It's a SHAME! They have more lineups and powerful cars available.

I think Acura won't discontinue for the next 10 years so enjoy your ride guys