About Acura

Acura is a brand of Japanese automaker Honda Motor Company. It primarily competes with Lexus, Infiniti and Cadillac among others as a luxury vehicle. It has been used in the US, Canada and Hong Kong since March 1986 to market Honda's performance automobiles and near-performance vehicles. The brand was introduced to Mexico in 2004 and to the Chinese market in 2006. It is also planned to extend Acura to the Japanese domestic market two years from 2008 or so. With the Acura brand, Honda is credited with being the first to tap into a market for luxury Japanese cars outside Japan. Before Acura, automobiles exported from Japan were primarily economical in design and largely targeted at low-cost consumers.

The Acura Brand

In 1986, following a decade of research, Honda opened 18 all-new dealerships in North America to support its Acura automobile division. Acura was the first Japanese luxury brand to appear, and its initial offerings consisted of four models: the Legend, a V6-powered coupe and sedan, and the Integra, available as a five-door and three-door hatchback, as well as a sedan. The success of these models led to competing Japanese luxury brand ventures (Toyota's Lexus and Nissan's Infiniti).

Models

Future Models

• Acura will be introduced in Japan two years from 2008 or so
• Acura “Advanced Sedan Concept“ (flagship)
• Acura “Advanced Sports Car Concept“ (next generation NSX)

Current models

• MDX (luxury SUV)
• RDX (crossover SUV)
• RL (mid-size sedan) (know as "RL" in North America, "Legend" in the rest of the world)
• TL (mid-size sports sedan)
• TSX (compact sports sedan)
• CSX (compact sedan) (replacement for the Acura EL, only available in Canada)

Discontinued models

• EL (compact sedan, replaced Integra sedan; available only in Canada, replaced by the CSX (which is also available only in Canada))
• Integra (sports coupe and sedan, replaced by the RSX and EL)
• RSX (sports coupe, discontinued after the 2006 model year)
• Legend (luxury sedan and coupe, replaced by the RL) ("Legend" nameplate discontinued only in N. America)
• Vigor (mid-sized sedan, replaced by the TL)
• CL (luxury coupe, discontinued after 2003 model year)
• SLX (SUV, replaced by the MDX; available only in the United States)
• NSX (exotic coupe)
• Sterling – a version of the Acura Legend marketed in the USA, built in the U.K. by Rover