Tony Pac

Acura justifies for no exhausts for Acura TLX:
Fast forward to 1:38

thanks!

Rocketsfan

Let me guess ... they wanted to convey a sense of "green" by hiding them ...

Tony Pac

If you didn't watch the video and guessed then you are RIGHT

good guess buddy!

Rocketsfan

Lol. The video was already posted in another thread, but Jared, the guy in this video had said the same thing a few months ago in a walkthrough video for the prototype posted a few months ago.

cokorote

iTrader: (1)

Don't worry Ron Jon will come up with some rear opening bumper for the TLX. Need to shell extra $$$ to get what you want.

Rocketsfan

Hell, just use a Dremel! Look, holes!

Tony Pac

hahaha ok

I am 100% sure they will come up with dual exhausts within a year. That will be their refresh.

KeithL

So then I guess Honda is projecting a "dirty" message by have exhaust tips,on all those cars. Ah great marketing, buy a cheap,Honda and you are killing the environment,nt, but step up to a more expensive luxurious Acura and protect the environment.

LNJ

Maybe they shouldn't have let Seth Rogen be the design lead!

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I found it funny that strength and athleticism were his motivators...

A lot of the new exhaust tips you see are just facades anyway with the rinky dink stainly tip stopping an inch short of the actual bumper insert anyway. I would be curious to see what the aftermarket comes up with though.

Colin

Wait a minute, you mean all Acura cars don't have exposed exhausted? I hadn't noticed this before. I think this calls for far more discussion.

fsttyms1

The last thing I think of when I don't see exposed tail pipes is a green car. Especially when they did such a piss poor job hiding the mufflers

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

This singular fact will keep me from buying a TLX.

Tonyware

Question for Jared (lol... wonder if he is reading): OK, great lines, great design, amazing side and back design. But, but, but: have you tested all these designs in winter conditions? I mean, you know, some of us up here in the true north and frozen have to drive these cars 4-5 months a year in polar conditions! I mean what if these rear end sharp lines cause issues when snow and ice falls all over? Example: If you drive on the highway in a blizzard and because of the design, your rear lights get covered with snow and ice... well, you dead! I am sure CAD simulations and wind tunnels have eliminated some issues early on, but simulations can only go that far when compared with real conditions.

Just a thought, my 5 cents (can't find 2 canadian cents anymore).

PS. Solution for those who don't like hidden exhaust tips: Dremel!

a35tl

Personally, I say screw the "green image". Let Honda carry that torch and let Acura pursue the "sporty image". If it's all a façade anyway, why hide the exhaust?

Rocketsfan

I've come to the conclusion that Acura is just trying to corner the hipster/environmentalist/animal lover luxury market.... hide the exhausts to promote a "green" image... and slap P-AWS on the back to appeal to the puppy and kitten lover in you.

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

There is no justification for the undescended testis here. They just don't want this car to have balls.

Colin

I can't believe that anybody actually "believes" the explanation given. It's clearly a styling/marketing decision that has nothing to do with a green image.

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

Well I just don't get it. I mean my car has quads and it's green. What's the problem?

Rocket_man

Actually I discovered a secondary audio track on the video... It sounded like a behind the scenes interview with Jared... now I'm not quoting exactly but ... Jared says he thought the car was kind of boring so he talks about a conversation he has with Mat... 'Hey Mat, I think this car needs some lines on it, what do you think?' Mat says, 'heck that sounds like a good idea' So I took a pencil and drew a few curves on the page. We thought they looked okay and it was nearly 6pm that night so we just kept them. We agreed that if we were asked we'd say we were trying to add 'tension' and 'movement' and other words that I learned in design school. The next day we we spent working on these cool outfits and before you know it, it was nearly quitting time but we hadn't finished the rear end. We were trying to figure out what kind of exhaust tips would look best but heck it was nearly 6 pm so we just decided to tuck them underneath and we'd finish the design later. But ops we just forgot! I mean I thought Mat had written it down on his ToDo list, he's always keeping those damn ToDo lists, but we just plain forgot! Talk about embarrassing. Later we decided that we'd just tell everyone that is was an effort to be more Green. Everyone was on the green bandwagon anyway and this just killed two birds with one stone and covered up an embarrassing oversight and Honda Corporate just ate that $#i! up. I mean sometimes you just get lucky! Later we thought about putting a "Prius" badge on the back. I mean if people will fall for this green stuff with the hidden exhaust they would really like a "Prius" badge on the back... Green AND great gas mileage both! But the damn lawyers said we couldn't. Lawyers always mess things up.

ACCURATEin

I'm sure there is a guy that works in the exterior design department with Jared that has trouble sleeping at night knowing they are going to release the car with a rear bumper that looks like that. The level of stupid is profound.

tman

Wait, 2017 there will be exhaust cutouts and fog lights on all models. They do stuff like this on 3rd year runs.

motegi

Probably saved them $10-15 bucks per car to not have to fit them with chromed exhaust tips.

All part of cost containment I imagine.

Colin

Funny, that was mentioned over on TOV and it's not an insignificant amount of money multiplied by Acura's projected sales volume. Assuming you will sell the same volume whether they have exhaust tips or not, and that you're going to do ~180,000 cars a year, that's $1.8 Million of increased cost. That said, I don't think costs savings was the 'real' reason.

SeismicGuy

EXACTLY what I was thinking. There needs to be little minor facelift things to tinker with between the major remodels so this leaves things like color and shape of tail lights, fog (driving) lights, shape and size of front spoiler, shape and size of rear valence, etc. So one of the facelifts will undoubtedly be fooling around first with visible exhausts and then the shape and size of the exhaust outlets.

JM2010 SH-AWD

I highly doubt that even at 10-15 dollars per unit the cost differential would be close to material to Honda Motor Co. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see them, but it's just not a huge deal for me. If the car is otherwise right, this I can overlook. And, as others have said, there will always be customization options.

BEAR-AvHistory

You really think a brand struggling in the market place, RLX sold 229 cars last month, is going to save the "good stuff" on a brand new car for 3 years down the road?

They might add them at mid cycle but it will be because somebody screwed up the introduction not because they were saving them.

motegi

So if "green" image is not the true reason and people don't think that cost containment was either, then I guess its just so that there is one less thing for the owners to have to clean. Blacked exhaust tips can be a pain to clean sometimes.

Rocketsfan

They've already said they haven't ruled out the visible exhaust pipes on the TLX which makes me think they'll show up mid-cycle or possibly on a performance variant. Their reasoning that it's to be green sounds stupid. You can't expect your buyers to accept "smart luxury" yet expect them to be that stupid.

d1sturb3d119

iTrader: (1)

Meanwhile in the rest of the world the horsepower wars are on and exciting cars are hitting the market. Sad stuff from Acura. Would be great if they could up the ante instead of pulling this BS. Will have to see. They need a high performance version now!

neuronbob

Well obviously this is what the focus groups thought was cool. I'm over the lack of exhaust finishers. I'd like to know what the driving experience is , that's much more important.

KeithL

While I like exhaust tips, I too am over them. The gf's RDX doe not have them and honestly while I like the looks of tips, I agree, cleaning a car without them is much easier as dirty exhaust tips sucks to get clean and keep clean. I am very eager to drive a TLX AWD Advance. I suspect I will be disappointed since they have not stiffened the suspension on the AWD this time, one can only hope a Type-S comes soon.

SeismicGuy

Yes--I've seen this type of thing all the time even on cars I have owned. For example I bought the Toyota Supra the first year it came out but in the second or third year they added little things such as redesigned side mirrors that also served to stabilize the windows and color matched splash guards that were a nice improvement. Same with the 2nd gen TL I owned where the faux fascia was used where fog lights should have been. You also often find that the horsepower magically somehow increases at the third or fourth year. Usually on the second or third year after a makeover is introduced you start seeing the things that should have been on the originally introduced model.

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

I don't think it's an industry wide practice to do it all the same way. The real answer is probably that it is a little of both and it depends on the car. Only upper management can answer the question.

Sometimes they really do screw up the introductory model without much foresight. Other times it is very evident that they purposely hold back and introduce a tame introductory model. Then magically they add all the stuff they should have in the first place on the mid-cycle refresh. The evidence of this is that many cars on their mid-cycle look much more than the original prototype than the introductory model.

But in this case even the prototype was sans exhaust tips. I think it's going to stay that way for base models. The only hope I see is if there is a performance variant like a Type-S. I'm pretty sure in that case they'll have to oblige.

BEAR-AvHistory

^^^^^

Everybody does mid-cycle things to spice up the product. That being said I don't believe that holding the exhausts (remember the 3G rectangles were an Acura only design cue) for the update was a plan. Makes no sense to hold back when you are not selling cars & need a home run to kick start sales.

When saying they would consider them for the update they were reacting IMHO to the very vocal "where the h*ll are the tips" at the unveiling.

I think they could have canned them if they carried through with the prototypes diffuser style rear end treatment instead of the plain one that highlights the lack of exhaust

KeithL

No offense, but I suspect the lack of exhaust tips will have little or no impact on sales. plus or minus.

d1sturb3d119

iTrader: (1)

It won't have an effect but its annoying when they pull the whole "we want to be an eco company crap" when they have the car taking a jump and scraping its undercarriage all over the road.

keith7120

no exhaust tips = inverted nipples on large breasts. A bit of a let down but you still play with them.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Exactly