We all know there was no 2025 ZDX. But there is a 2025 Prologue. And I wonder why the two have been treated differently?

 

Probably because the ZDX has been selling like doodoo and has required a lot of money to be put on the hood to move them. Within 50 miles of me there are still over 50 2024 ZDXs unsold, whereas there are only 3 2024 Prologues unsold. Nationwide there's over 700 2024 ZDXs still listed on cars.com. Methinks they skipped the 2025 model year to try to thin out old inventory, or they're throwing in the towel because it might not be profitable with all the incentives they had to provide to get people to buy them.

 

It's out-selling the Lyric though. The ZDX is a bigger hit than the Lyric.

I'll admit the incentives are too high and if they only move with incentives this high there is a problem. One reason I went Acura over Honda was the ZDX incentive made the Prologue less attractive to me. The reason I went ZDX over Lyric was a few things. CarPlay was a big deal to me. Acura over Cadillac badging. I didn't like the Lyric interior.

The Prologue is selling well too, compared to the Chevys.

 

That's kind of like saying dirt tastes better than rotten eggs...it doesn't change the fact that sales are not great, and that's even with the incentives. I'm not sure what's happening to Cadillac is pertinent to the decisionmaking process for Honda/Acura.

I also suspect that on a unit economics basis, the Lyriq is more profitable for GM than the ZDX is for Honda, so even if the sales numbers are lower the overall profit might be higher. There's no way GM is providing ZDXs to Honda at cost, so there's gotta be some degree of profit on these cars that gets siphoned by GM.

 

Looks like they trying to thin out inventory. From the June sales report:

​​​​​​​https://acuranews.com/en-US/releases...sales-increase

 

In hindsight, Honda probably ordered around 20k ZDX and 30-40k Prologue for the first year. As we all know by now, Prologue went through the quota early, and needed MY25 switchover to pick up the new P9D motor. ZDX, on the other hand, took a while to take off, hence the slower switchover to P9C powertrain.

Regarding ZDX sale, I think people here are too harsh on ZDX. Almost all EVs these days rely on huge discounts to keep the factories pumping. For example, base-trim Polestar 3 AWD can be had with 400-ish monthly payment on leasehackr. ZDX is not alone.

About the EV colab deal, GM EVs are designed and built to minimize non-battery cost. The deal Honda got should be reasonably good, otherwise, they would not take the bite. Remember, GM need to keep the battery/EV production flowing to meet their numbers (originally a lofty 300k, then slowly revised downwards). Honda could try leveraging the slower market to get more out of the deal, but I feel they are too focused on their own EV platform, that the only way is to bring RSX as early as possible to self-fulfill.

 

6k Prologue sold in July, wow, no wonder I saw a surge of Prologues on the road.
665 ZDX only, looks like Acura tightened lease incentives in August to bridge the MY production gap. This hints at MY26 announcement in August, and delivery in early or mid September. The timeline aligns well with MY26 Lyriq start-of-production date in late July.

Changes that are almost certain to happen based on Lyriq info:
- Standard Super Cruise, hopefully 3rd gen like on Lyriq/Vistiq.
- P9C powertrain. Probably sticking with the mini Lyriq-V format to give RSX breathing room, thus a mild range and power increase (~300 miles, 515hp/550lb-ft).
- 5G telematics.
- Infotainment upgraded to IVE spec (faster cpu, more memory), probably no change to the screen. Hopefully, the OS comes with video streaming support.
- Remove power on/off button.
- Slightly sportier steering/suspension tuning, that is already baked into the first VWP release.
- Slightly improved sound deadening? Could be through updated noise-canceling, and/or through sound deadening tweaks.