Moog-Type-S

http://www.leftlanenews.com/acura-ap...ing-video.html

:ibkanye: Honda/Acura Doesn't Care About Black People

ttribe

https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...postcount=3162

Moog-Type-S

^^ Wrong thread :wink:

This is the marketing thread

Hapa DC5

^ eh I thought about putting it here, either thread is relevant.

Xpditor

From a technical photographers perspective, I can understand the concern. It's easy to photograph blacks or whites by themselves. But in a mixed group, it is difficult to get perfect exposure. If the blacks are exposed perfectly, the whites look washed out. It the whites are exposed perfectly, the blacks lose detail. It can be corrected somewhat in the lab or in Photoshop but it is more work. In other words, I don't necessarily see villainy here.

Moog-Type-S

^^ Sorta like how Heidi Klum and Seal look in photos.

I don't think it had anything to do with exposure.
It was all about selling an image.

Yumcha

Well, everyone remember that one-off "NSX" to be used in "The Avengers" movie for Tony Stark?

Well, it's actually the old NSX.







http://www.speed-driven.com/index.ph...sx-is-actually

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

I wonder how long it will take before we see a horrible recreation of it.

dom

I think most of us figured it was.

Moog-Type-S

Plywood.....a nice touch!

ttribe

Hey! It's real wood trim! That's an upgrade from the fake veneer they usually use.

Moog-Type-S

Rear deck should have been the bowling ball trim.

TSX69

Acura: The Least Inspiring Avenger

Without a doubt, audiences walking out of The Avengers are going to remember seeing 1 brand among the many that pop up throughout the movie: Acura.

The automaker filled the film, literally start to finish, with its models. And it capped it all off with at the end with Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony "Iron Man" Stark hopping into a new, attention-grabbing Acura NSX roadster — and straight onto the carpet at the movie's premiere.

In the product placement world, The Avengers tie-in is a bit of a coup for Acura, with Stark having preferred Audi R8s in both previous Iron Man films. But by providing only a concept car for its most high profile role ever, has Acura dropped the product placement ball?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=Eg_Dm5Hjj94

In 2008, Audi partnered for the first time with Marvel to put "genius billionaire playboy philanthropist" Tony Stark behind the wheel of its new R8 super car. The partnership was a hit, with both the character and the car complimenting one another.

2 years later, Audi revised its Iron Man role, putting Stark in the seat of the R8 Spyder.

In both cases, Audi was using the cars to create a Halo effect for the whole brand. In something of a coup, Audi models appeared in the background of the first Iron Man film, but the focus, and what audiences left remembering was the R8. At the time, Audi hoped that even those who could not plunk down the cash for the R8 might consider, say, a similar-looking TT.

You Tube

In Acura's case, while the NSX roadster is the icing on its this product placement partnership, it's the RDX model that sparkles throughout The Avengers that audiences will probably remember. A fine little SUV to be sure, but hardly inspiring as it is basically the fleet car for the faceless and nameless agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Essentially, it's what the Ford Taurus was to government vehicles 20 years ago.

The reason the RDX is the featured Acura model and not the NSX is that the NSX isn't a real car, red carpet showboating notwithstanding. The concept vehicle isn't even a true concept. From the Edmunds Avengers test drive:

"The doors open easily and feel solid — like a real NSX. Once they're open, however, what awaits the driver is a throwback interior barely changed from 1990. That's because, under its skin, The Tony Stark Acura NSX Roadster is really a 1991 Acura NSX."

You Tube

Essentially, the NSX roadster is the equivalent of guys with expert reproduction Iron Man costumes: great looking on the outside, but on the inside it's just a costume.

Audi itself has learned that cool looking concept cars placed in films often don't go beyond just cool concepts. In 2004, the brand garnered tons of media and audience attention with its RSQ sport coupe concept car in the sci-fi film I, Robot. See, also, the Lexus concept in Minority Report.

By comparison, the R8's Iron Man role was the beginning of a role for the model. Soon after Stark was seen on the car, the R8 was showing up in TV shows and movies like NCIS, The Mentalist, Date Night, Surrogates and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It was a real car whose halo effect washed over the entire Audi lineup.

Speaking of Transformers, this "real car" importance is one Mercedes also seems to understand. For the latest installment of the series, Dark of the Moon, Mercedes hit the screen with its awesome Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, nearly upstaging its Victoria's Secret model co-star. Again, it's a real car that you can buy right now (but probably not).

You Tube

The opportunity afforded to automakers by a high-profile tie-in and placement is more complex than just creating a temporary buzz. Practiced most successfully, auto product placement works best when its done with a highly characteristic new model that plays a major role and that's available in the immediate future. Examples include not just the R8 and the SLS AMG, but also the wildly successful Dodge Charger placement in Fast 5 and the king of all auto placements, James Bond's BMW Z3.

Again, the RDX may be a car you wouldn't mind driving, but it, and its role, doesn't inspire heroism.

In practice, Acura's dilemma can be best illustrated in its tie-in marketing. For both Iron Man and Iron Man 2, Audi was able to fill its tie-in websites and video commercials with its premier product, the R8.

Meanwhile, Acura's Avengers website is all about the RDX, never once mentioning the NSX everyone is talking about.

TSX69

The Story Behind "The Avengers" Acura NSX

If you were 1 of the 18 billion people who went to see "The Avengers" recently, you probably noticed the film concludes with Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark getting into a dark red Acura convertible and driving off with Bruce Banner. (Calm down, that's no spoiler).

But unlike the other Acuras making cameos throughout the film (the automaker having stolen the product placement mantle from Audi, whose R8 supercar was Stark's ride in the 2 Iron Man films), this model doesn't currently exist.

Yet.

It's a concept of the forthcoming Acura NSX, due out as a coupe around 2015, about the time the just-announced sequel to "The Avengers" will hit theaters. You may also recognize the coupe from the funny, yet controversial Super Bowl commercial featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno.

Details on the powertrain of the NSX haven't been released, though Acura has said it will have a mid-mounted V-6 VTEC engine with direct-injection and a dual-clutch transmission routing power to the rear wheels while a pair of electric motors power the front wheels.

Sadly, the car you see here has none of that. But unlike other concept mockups that are as functional as a foam chainsaw, this one is a working, drivable model. And the car it's based on may surprise you.

"It's bitchin'," says Dave Marek as he looks at the concept.

We're in a vacant parking lot in Torrance on the sprawling campus of the North American headquarters for Honda, Acura's parent company. Steps away is 1 of the company's key R&D centers, a fortress holding the future products for both brands that not even Iron Man could break into.

A bit of an institution at Honda, Marek has been designing Hondas and Acuras for well over 2 decades. His work includes the original Honda Accord station wagon, the Honda Ridgeline and Acura MDX. He's now the director of design at the company and was integral in bringing the NSX concept to life for its silver screen debut.

Marek says the project began in June 2011, when he was handed the final pages of "The Avengers" script and told that a car was needed for Stark's parting shot. Initially the plan was to mock up just the rear of the car, since that's all that was needed for filming. But at the request of none other than the film's director and screenwriter Joss Whedon, it was decided to use a full car.

This meant that Marek and his team had 3 months to create a working, film-ready car in time for the scene to be filmed in New York City's Central Park during Labor Day weekend in 2011.

Deciding exactly what this film car would look like proved to be a bit of a challenge.

As you may know, Acura didn't officially unveil the NSX concept or even confirm the company planned to bring the car to market until the Detroit Auto Show in January 2012. Yet Acura knew that photos of the film car would hit the Internet immediately after filming its scene in September 2011, 4 months before the Detroit show. This was because New York City doesn't allow film crews to block public access while filming in Central Park.

(And hit the Internet they did, sparking breathless speculation as to whether the concept seen filming indicated a revival of the NSX nameplate.)

In anticipation of this, Marek and his team took the already-finalized design for the official NSX Concept and tweaked it a bit to throw off people who were on the scent for NSX clues.

The biggest difference is the film car is a convertible while the official NSX Concept is a coupe. The front end of the film car was also deliberately left vague (there are no headlights, functional or otherwise) and the sculpting of the hood and front bumpers is relatively straightforward when compared to the concept shown in Detroit.

Once the design for the film car was finalized, Marek's team had Oxnard-based Trans FX build it. While the name might not sound familiar, TFX are the minds behind such film vehicles as the Fantasticar in the 2007 "Fantastic 4," an alien spacecraft in "Men in Black II," and life-size replicas of the cars from Disney's "Cars 2."

But rather than build "The Avengers" car from the ground up, Marek's team and the crew at TFX drew on the history of the Acura NSX as inspiration.

Quite literally.

Underneath the sleek body panels of the NSX film car sits an original, fully-functional 1992 Acura NSX with more than 250,000 miles on it. The general, mid-engined proportions of the film NSX were strikingly similar to the original NSX, made from 1990-2005. Thus, only minor mechanical modifications were necessary to create a drivable concept for the movie.

TFX simply stripped the original NSX of all its body panels, save for the doors, and built the concept NSX around it. The front panels are made from fiberglass while the rear panels are milled epoxy resin. Cladding was added to the doors so they matched the look of the rest of the car.

The windshield was cut off and a shorter, smaller unit from an unspecified car was mounted a few inches forward of the original position. The car's rear track has been widened to fit the new panels, and wider wheels and tires were also used for a clean look. The "Stark 33" license plate comes from the fact that 33 is Downey's favorite number. "Maybe he's a Larry Bird fan," Marek surmised.

The original 6-cylinder engine and 5-speed manual transmission from the 1992 NSX remain, though the car will probably never need the high gears since any speeds above 20 mph would shake loose the new panels. Also unchanged is the cockpit, save for an updated set of seats.

As such, 1 can drive this film car and quickly forget its exterior doesn't match its 20-year-old interior. There's nothing to tell you otherwise save for the stares you get.

A few laps around the parking lot revealed this NSX to be an easy drive; the engine, brakes and transmission are all plenty capable. The only change to the driving dynamics is the new body cladding lowers the ride height and widens the turning radius significantly.

But you're still tempted to just floor it and hope no one can catch up to you, before you remember the numerous security guards making frequent laps around the campus.

Thus, this NSX is reserved for the closing scenes of blockbuster superhero movies and light duty at movie premiers with none other than a certain genius billionaire playboy philanthropist at the wheel.

They have all the fun.

Fibonacci

http://blog.caranddriver.com/why-hon...deep-thoughts/

pttl

Good read.

Hapa DC5

Very good read. LOL @ the fanboys at the bottom exhibiting that exact denial!

dom

Thanks for the read Fibo. Again, nice to see the rest of the automotive world come around to what we've been saying on AZ for years.

You hear quite a bit of denial from Honda and it's staunchest supporters these days. One thing I could never quite understand with Honda. When they release a sales flop they let it die on the vine for years before either axing it or updating it. That exact thing is now happening with the Crosstour. Strikes me as a lack of leadership and inability to admit your mistakes and move on or make changes. Its as if they can't accept or worse, They simply deny failure?

pttl

The article = Debunking the entire Honda fanboy handbook.

Hapa DC5

^ the fanboys are up in arms, they're lighting the torches and assembling.

NBP04TL4ME

Thanks Fibo. A good read and hopefully Honda execs have or will read this.

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

The article probably has a few good points, and certainly Honda has made some mistakes. But I think the article is a bit exaggerating....I'd say the same article can be applied to some other car companies too.

I'm not sure if I'm really seeing the GM analogy. GM was killed because it was unionized, had way too many product lines, not much exposure in the European market, got owned in its home market, and it's not an engineering driven company.

I think for Honda, the marketing is more of a problem. For instance, how many times have we said their advertisements suck? Why does she CR-Z only have two seats? Why is the Insight so small? If they have a better marketing department, their advertisements will be better. They will have a better idea of what cars sell and what cars do not sell in North America. And obviously, if they have a better marketing department, they'd know right away if a car is ugly to most people and change it much quicker (4G TL, crosstour).

I'm not sure about the Stage 2......undisciplined pursue of more? If so, we would be able to buy the V10 sports car now. Honda would still be in the F1. It's because they are disciplined, those projects are canned.

TSX69

Has Acura Lost Its Edge?
Sales Up but Image Muddled

When Acura pulled the cover off its NSX super car concept at the Detroit auto show in January, the design raised pulses, but the timing raised eyebrows.

Then Honda's luxury brand then spent a fortune in February to feature the car -- which isn't due on sale for 3 years -- in Acura's 1st Super Bowl ad.

"You don't pull the wraps off what you're doing years from now if everything's hunky-dory. You see that from companies not doing particularly well," says Jack Nerad, executive editorial director at auto research site kbb.com.

Automobile magazine was blunter on its June cover, calling Acura "a lost brand."

Acura was the 1st Japanese nameplate to take on the U.S. luxury market — its 1986 Legend and Integra pre-dating Lexus and Infiniti in 1990. And it remains Honda's showcase for its most advanced technology.

Yet Acura has let go of the advantages of its head start and its technology, says Ivan Drury, manager of pricing and industry analysis at auto research site Edmunds.com. "They really were ahead of the game at one point. Now what they have is about even with everybody else. They've lost that edge,"

Acura, of course, disputes that. "We're coming off an absolutely nightmarish year in which we still outpaced Audi and Infiniti, our 2 primary competitors," says Michael Accavitti, Acura's vice president in charge of U.S. marketing. "This year, we're not only beating Audi and Infiniti (in sales), but also Jaguar and Lincoln and others."

Acura was hit harder than others last year by the tsunami in Japan, and its U.S. sales last year were down 7.7% in a new car market up 10.3%, according to Autodata. This year, however, sales are up 10.8% through May vs. the period a year ago. Through May, Infiniti is up 7.2%, and Audi is up 14.5%. And Acura's total sales, Accavitti points out, are greater than either Infiniti or Audi.

"We're focused on what the brand stands for, have a solid product strategy for the future, and there's clarity among all the executives" about the brand's image, Accavitti says.

From the outside, however, it's not so clear:

"Acura has certainly moved away from what many of us recognize" as the foundation of the brand — nimble, sporty cars, says Drury. "Lost their way? Maybe not exactly," but certainly changed.

Acura has, he says, "turned into a luxury SUV maker. Its MDX has been its best seller the last few years and typically is 1/3 of all Acura sales."

Nothing wrong with SUVs; they are big business. But for Acura, the prominence of a three-row, family-style SUV seems to push its luxury image toward the mainstream.

Drury points to Edmunds.com data showing that about 21% of people who consider an Acura also look at Toyota; nearly 19% cross-shop Hondas. Further, fewer than 13% of people looking at Audi also consider Acura, and about 17% of Infiniti shoppers cross-shop Acuras. Meanwhile, about 30% of people who consider an Audi also look at a BMW.

In other words, car shoppers seem more inclined to consider Toyotas and Hondas — not Audis and Infinitis — as the equivalent of Acuras. "There is a bit of questioning as to where (Acura's) exact competition lives," Drury says.

Acura's new models should improve its sales, but the first two have been smaller, lower-price vehicles unlikely to burnish a high-end image that brings premium profits.

Here is the key new hardware:

RDX. The latest version of the compact, 5-seat crossover SUV, starting at about $35,000, is intended to hit what the 1st version missed.

"The original RDX was targeted where we thought the market was going to go," Accavitti says. "But we found it was biased toward people who wanted more comfort" than the edgy, turbocharged 4-cylinder original RDX provided.

The 2013, as a result, is slightly bigger, outside and in, is powered by a smoother V-6 and is tailored for a smooth ride.

Bull's-eye: It went on sale April 2, and in May, became Acura's No. 2 seller behind MDX with May sales more than triple those of the old model last May.

ILX. Just on sale, it's a recasting of the Honda Civic to be the new entry-level Acura, starting at about $27,000. It's seen as a "gateway" car to bring new buyers into Acura showrooms. "A lot of people are going that (lower-price) route," Nerad says, so ILX could drive up sales volume important to the Acura dealerships.

Industry watchers are of 2 minds about ILX. 1 view is that it's a return to the nimble, small-car roots of the brand's original Integra, making it a smart move. The other view is that it's too much like the Civic on which it's based, and its roots won't wow luxury-brand buyers. "You'll see a lot of comparisons to both the Integra and the Civic," Drury says.

RLX. The concept unveiled at the New York auto show in April is a concept believed close to the sedan that will replace Acura's aging flagship RL early next year. The old RL, priced at about $49,000 to $57,000, has become almost a nonentity.

The RL is an excellent symbol of Acura's struggle, Nerad says. Though it's the flagship, Acura "resisted doing a V-8 engine, saying 'Oh, a V-6 can do it.' That's probably true, but it's not luxury." All other luxury brands offer V-8s.

The RLX concept also eschews a V-8 in the top model in favor of a gas-electric all-wheel drive hybrid system with a V-6 and 3 electric motors. Acura says it will be rated at least 370 horsepower and — just as important in Acura's mind — get a 30 miles per gallon rating in every driving mode.

A conventional 310-hp V-6, model of the new flagship also will be available.

NSX. The high-performance sports car unveiled as a concept in Detroit will have a hybrid all-wheel-drive system similar to that in the RLX and was promised "within 3 years."

It revives the name of Acura's NSX mid-engine sports car built 1990-2005, but the new 1 will be developed and built in Ohio instead of Japan.

Lexus and Infiniti also are rethinking their identities and places in the luxury market in the face of strong gains by European upscale brands.

Lexus, is trying to reinvent itself as more like BMW, recasting each new car model to be crisper-handling, quicker and sportier-looking. The 2013 GS 350 sedan, on sale since February, is the 1st, and is selling 5 to 6 times as fast as its predecessor.

Nissan's Infiniti, known for edgy styling and rear-drive performance, is going a different path. It just launched the 2013 JX 35, a big crossover SUV based on front-drive hardware more like what's in Nissan products than in any other Infiniti. The JX rolled out in March, and in April, its 1st full month, became the brand's 2nd-best-selling model, after the G entry-model sedans.

Acura, though, has a unique issue related to its Honda roots that may limit its flexibility in seeking a more distinct identity. Say Nerad: "Acura is a product of, and in some ways a victim of, how Honda goes about doing business — an engineering company that's all about efficiency. Luxury isn't about efficiency."

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

I think the parallel is fair to draw. And while Honda's situation is definitely nowhere near as dire, yet (key word in all of this), it has the possibility of getting far worse before it gets better.

With a true engineer and car enthusiast back at the helm, Honda has an opportunity to turn things around, but they need to introduce cars that can distinguish themselves in some way from the rest of the pack. In the past, that used to be driving feel and handling, with the Accord and Civic consistently touted as the best driving family and compact sedans on the market, bar none. Today, this distinction has disappeared as competitors have gotten better and Honda has failed to move the needle on that front while allowing their cars to become bloated and boring.

It seems that Honda wants to focus on environmental friendliness and efficiency, but even that is dubious at best given that Toyota pretty much owns that market share with the Prius line-up and up until the introduction of the Leaf and the Volt as electric plug-in vehicles, Toyota has almost complete mindshare of that market space. It also doesn't help that the Insight is laughable and the CR-Z is too small to be useful to the typical hybrid buyer these days.

Having now done away with the S2000, NSX, Prelude, and RSX/Integra, Honda has no truly sporty cars in its line-up. The current generation Si is hardly on the same level as its competition and certainly isn't competitive against upcoming (or recently introduced) products from Ford, Hyundai, and even GM. And yes, the NSX is making a comeback next year, but how many people will truly get to drive, much less own, one of those?

What we all long for is the Honda that knew what it wanted to be, instead of trying to be everything to everyone. If the goal is to be more sporty and fun to drive than the competition, then focus on that and make the cars better from that perspective while making appropriate concessions for the class of vehicle. Going back to those days where the sense of focus on Honda cars was palpable in every aspect of the car, instead of the current state of disarray, would be the place to start. Recapture the fan base and start to rebuild from there. And do it before everyone jumps ship.

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

This is something that I agree on, but I don't think you are really proving the GM to Honda analogy. You are talking about Honda's problems. Like I said, I fully agree that Honda has its own share of problems and I think Honda should seriously fix those issues. While the article has a few legitimate points, I feel that it is poorly written, to the point of troll-like. It just doesn't look credible. I will explain why below.

GM in the 80's was doing well. It has ever expanding with a lot of product lines. It was also developing highly engineered, underdeveloped cars. Right now, Honda is not exactly developing highly engineered cars. If Honda is, we would be seeing DI, turbo, and/or other technologies in their cars. Instead, as always, Honda is focusing on making cars that are suitable for people. They focus on things that add value and make life easier. And don't forget, even though people have been complaining about the interior materials of recent Honda models, especially the Civic, the general quality is still high. This is quite different than the GM in the 80's.

Look at the CRV, it's still the best selling compact SUV and it's also one of the best selling vehicles. It's not highly engineered (no turbo, no V6, no DI, no fancy AWD, etc), it doesn't have gadgets like mytouch, and it doesn't have a beautiful exterior design. It's a winner because it does exactly what it's supposed to do, and it does it extremely well. It has features that customers in this market want, such as low load floor and one touch fold down rear seats. These features are far more important than nice styling or mytouch.

The article mentions Honda's resistance to replace V6 with turbocharged 4-cyl engines. I find that funny because in the same article, it also mentions how long it took Honda to put a V6 in the Accord. As far as I know, two of the best selling sedans in the mid-size market are the Camry and Altima - both have V6 as an optional choice. Obviously, Honda would want to target to beat those two cars, the choice to stick with V6 is understandable, no? The article also talks about how the new RDX goes from turbo 4 to V6, while others are going the other direction. It goes on and say Honda isn't smart in doing so. Well, does the author wants Honda to listen to consumers or not? Quite clearly, one of the main complaints of the 1st gen RDX was the lack of V6. So now the new model has a V6 in it, along with more power and way better fuel efficiency. What more does the author want?

The article talks a bit about the Crosstour. It says Honda doesn't learn from its mistakes as the new Crosstour concept looks pretty much the same as before. Well, the concept is a MMC, not FMC. Honda has the tendency of screwing up 1st gen designs, but come back much stronger in the next gen. Examples would be the CL, TL, RL, SLX (which was replaced by MDX), Odyssey, etc. Who knows, the same might happen to the Crosstour?

For for robots, jets, and some other research that Honda does, well, that's part of Honda, really. The Asimo and Hondajets projects have been around for decades. The author does not seem to understand that Honda has many divisions. Automotive is only one division. Honda has powersports, motorcycle, and several others (heck, my lawnmower uses a Honda engine).

Honda's main concern IMO is hybrid vehicles. The company keeps talking about keeping green and environmentally friendly. Sure, the fuel cell program has been progressing well, but at this moment, if they want to talk about being green, their hybrid area needs to do much better. I agree with you that Toyota is currently owning Honda (and most other companies) in this area. Although I personally like the simple and less costly IMA method as I think it makes more common sense financially, consumers are looking to get the best mpg gains in hybrids. I think the upcoming hybrid system from Honda will do better.

TSX69

Acura Designer Tweaks "The Beak"
But It'll Stay

TOKYO -- Acura's new global design chief wants to spice up Honda's premium brand, but 1 polarizing feature won't change.

The shieldlike double pentagon grille -- derisively billed "the beak" by critics -- is here to stay, says Toshinobu Minami.

Minami, 44, took the reins of exterior design for Honda and Acura last September, chosen by President Takanobu Ito to inject more visual interest into the company's utilitarian styling.

He says Acura's oft-maligned grille may have gone too far in the past. But the look is growing on people, he says, and the basic design language will stay, albeit toned down a bit.

"We concede that we went a little overboard at some points," Minami said in a recent interview. "We actually had pretty bad feedback on this initially from different directions. But we are not going to buckle under that pressure."

The V-shaped grille was most recently carried over to the new Acura ILX entry sedan that went on sale this spring. It also appeared in the redesigned TL that debuted last fall and the NSX concept sports car shown this year at the Detroit auto show.

But the new look has been toned down from earlier incarnations, which were introduced under Acura's "keen edge" design overhaul that started in 2008.

"There hasn't been that great of a change, but maybe people have gotten used to it," Minami said of the grille. "There may be small evolutions here or there in details."

Minami says he wants to make the Honda brand sportier and more active, closer to Acura's traditional territory. In turn, Acura will be "going further out, maybe pursuing premium."

Minami, who penned the NSX concept, worked in the early 2000s as lead exterior designer on the Acura TL and 2nd-generation Acura RL, neither of which had the keen-edge grille.

Xpditor

"We actually had pretty bad feedback on this initially from different directions. But we are not going to buckle under that pressure."

Excuse me? Those are your potential buyers talking. And you're not going to buckle under that pressure?

Is this guy for real? Did he check his sales graphs for the last six years? Duhh! Since when does a blind commitment to a design feature trump market demands?

Maybe if they had more car guys and fewer stylist/artist guys making these decisions, Acura might take back some market share. The stylists forget that grilles have a FUNCTION. They are supposed to admit cool air to the radiator and engine. When you hang a big piece of metallic shield to block that airflow, it just looks creepy and counter-intuitive. As they say, it puts form before function and that grates on the nerves of many car guys.

Plus: it's just plain ugly.

pttl

Isn't this what is systemic with Ack, right now?

Sounds like that guy wrote the fanboy handbook.

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

At least the new design looks quite good.....

Moog-Type-S

http://www.leftlanenews.com/acura-wo...-the-beak.html

Not this "premium" talk again?!?!?!

pttl

Matter of opinion.

Xpditor

Is that the new look in your avatar??

pttl

I'd be proud of that beak!

ttribe

Not going to "buckle under pressure"? Are they serious? It's called FEEDBACK from your customers, Acura! This is the very type of arrogance they cannot afford. Unreal.

Hapa DC5

^ ACK thinks that because they are beating out Infiniti and Audi that puts them in good shape.

I love how they're telling the consumer this is what how we design it and that it is how you're going to buy it. Echoes GM from the mid 70s to the mid 2000s...

Edward'TLS

It's good that Acura has finally nailed a "signature grille" to be used on all Acura vehicles.

This is especially important to establish an unified brand image for the Acura brand.

Legend2TL

^ +1 agree, at least having a unified look for their models along with a structured model class (ILX, TSX, TL, RLX) gives a more tiered approach. IMO, not having both of them has been a problem for Acura since 1986. It's been working for BMW since 1975.

TSX69

Those comments seem kind of weird. I think that that they are acknowledging the public's opinion as you see on the TL, RL & TSX, the Power Plenum Grille debuted in 2009 & by 2011 they were already being tweaked. The 2013 ILX & RDX shows even more tinkering. Granted they are doing it in baby steps but it shows that there was still effort on their part.

pttl

^
That whole point is moot to me anyway. Why anyone would buy an Ack because of the way it looks is incomprehensible to me.

ttribe

It's NOT good if they are unified on a BAD design.