ostrich

It seems that the TLX has just been launched in China - it appeared that it made its first official appearance in some expo a couple of days ago, and then there will be some big event to introduce it in Guangzhou later this month:

ACURA

It's interesting to note that the website so far only talks about the 2.4L PAWS vehicle, so I am wondering if the 3.5L SH-AWD will be sold there at all? Also, the Chinese TLX shares the same wheel design as the Russian TLX. IMHO that is a better design than our 17" wheel design here.

I will be very curious to see how the TLX will sell in China. How is it doing in Russia, anyone?

silverTL6

iTrader: (2)

Hopefully this means the clear-corner jewel eye lamps will start showing up on Ebay. I'm sure they're available in Russia too but I believe it is generally harder and slower to ship from there...

silverTL6

iTrader: (2)

Kinda O/T but in my search for more info on this launch I ran across [this] site



And came away with [this] gem (note how most of the cameras are suspiciously not aimed at the car )

weather

^^ thank you!! It is refreshing not to be the pervert for once....

Tonyware

^ oh! me PAWS you long time?

seaeyes

The sales of TLX in China won't be exciting. There're couple of historical reasons.

First, Acura, as a luxury branch of Honda, entered China market very late. It's not very well known. Actually much much lower acceptance than Lexus and Infiniti in China.

Second, Acura cars sold in china are purely imported, while other brands, including BMW and Lexus, have their plants in China. It results in a much higher price tag for Acura (due to high duties).

Third, Acura insists on NA engines, and according the tax rules in china, it has a progressive rates in terms of engine displacement. It further pushes the price of Acura to an incredibly high level, while at the same time other brands uses turbo engines. BMW 3 even has a 1.6T model in China (bmw 316i) which has a relatively low price tag. In contrast, a MDX causes about 800,000 RMB in China which equals about 130,000 USD. Similar things will happen to TLX.
So the sales of TLX won't be high in China.

Acura_Dude

It never ceases to amaze me how much cars cost in other countries. $130K for an Acura? Pssh... Hello GT-R or R8.

Nedmundo

Interesting. I visited China over the summer, and saw only two Acuras amidst the hundreds (if not thousands) of BMW's and Audis, so I suspected the marque had been introduced only recently. I also saw a HUGE, brand new Acura dealership in Chengdu, which indicates they are serious about building a presence there.

Tonyware

Agree with seaeyes.

I don't think the TLX is the market penetration point for Acura in China. Probably the NSX should be the launch model. Reason the high taxes for imported cars. By the time its all set and done the base TLX will be around $100k in China. So whats the point? Everyone wants a status symbol over there, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, the usual crap. The NSX will be more or less a status symbol and the top of the crop will dive into it. But the poor TLX won't sell well over there. Doubt it will do any big splash in Russia either. Same story over there, people are looking for status symbols. Acura ain't one of them.