Acura News: Acura Looks Towards All-Wheel Drive As A Differing Factor

[William Maley]

Its no secret that Acura has been struggling in the auto marketplace. Aside from the bright spots of the MDX and RDX, the brand has been seeing year-over-year sales drop. But the brand could have a idea that might reverse that.

Automotive News recently spoke with Koichi Fukuo, Honda's senior managing director for Acura says the brand is looking into whether or not they should follow in the footsteps of Subaru and equip all of their vehicles with all-wheel drive.

"The key is awd," said Fukuo, "As a premium brand, we need something different from the competition."

Currently, Acura offers all-wheel drive in half of its lineup and the company is in the process of introducing a new all-wheel drive system that debuted in the new TLX sedan this year. But this change to an all-wheel drive exclusive lineup could take awhile. Also, Automotive News points out that this change might not help Acura at all. 90 percent of Audi's lineup came with all-wheel drive, while nearly 60 percent of BMW's lineup was equipped with all-wheel drive.

Now this plan is currently only being talked about at this time. Fukuo presented this plan to the board last week.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[smk4565]

How about they make a RWD car instead of rebodied Civics and Accords.

[Carguy]

Why not have AWD as standard along with more standard and opt power then competitors using Direct Injection and Turbocharging? If done correctly Acura could be the Powerships of affordable Luxury cars! Where BMW has 240HP and Cadillac has 272HP with their Turbo I4's Acura could have 300+HP and up from there! Their 3.5L V6 could do 400HP easly with Turbocharging! Then they could rename the RLX the Legend and have the power to back up the name!!

[G. David Felt]

FAILURE from the Start. Everyone else has been there already, they need to come up with something new and exciting in style, features and packaging.

 

Acura, Your HYBRID One Stop Shop.

 

All auto's are Hybrid, Electric AWD Driven with Petrol Generator for long distance driving. This would put them ahead of everyone with a GREEN Footprint to boot!

[smk4565]

AWD V6 is a poor combo for fuel economy, that hurts Acura compared to some competitors.  Probably why they want some FWD and 4 cylinder models to advertise the higher fuel economy.  Acura doesn't have a diesel or a turbo 4 in a sedan, they basically are an Accord V6 with AWD to give it a 1-2 mpg penalty.

 

Making every Acura a hybrid of some kind would make them unique, but then you also risk adding cost and trying to sell a $45,000 TLX, and I don't think anyone wants a $45,000 Accord hybrid.  Acura has the same problem Lincoln has, you can only do so much with a Ford or Honda, and can't really put a price tag much over $40k on them.

[G. David Felt]

AWD V6 is a poor combo for fuel economy, that hurts Acura compared to some competitors.  Probably why they want some FWD and 4 cylinder models to advertise the higher fuel economy.  Acura doesn't have a diesel or a turbo 4 in a sedan, they basically are an Accord V6 with AWD to give it a 1-2 mpg penalty.

 

Making every Acura a hybrid of some kind would make them unique, but then you also risk adding cost and trying to sell a $45,000 TLX, and I don't think anyone wants a $45,000 Accord hybrid.  Acura has the same problem Lincoln has, you can only do so much with a Ford or Honda, and can't really put a price tag much over $40k on them.

 

Yet you miss the point, take these basic cars and CUV's give them a decent mid luxury interior and the performance of the Tesla with Electronic AWD system and the Generator that VOLT has proven works so well and you have a Fast, Mid Luxury line with distance and selling at high 30's to low 50's and you have a special product line of Hybrid that no one else has.

 

Why not do a mid luxury line that can beat Tesla at their own game and have the Green credentials and performance to boost at half the price.

[Drew Dowdell]

How is AWD a differing factor?

4 out of 5 (soon to be 5 out of 6) Buicks have AWD available.

All of the (relevant) Audis have AWD available or standard.*

All of the relevant BMWs have AWD available.*

All of the relevant Mercedes have AWD available.*

All Cadillacs have AWD available.

All Lincolns have AWD/4WD available.

All Infinitis have AWD available.

All relevant Jaguars have AWD available.*

 

*I'm ignoring cars in the lineup like the Z4 and SLK since Acura doesn't make anything close to that.

[bobo]

How about stop making ugly, bloated vehicles?

 

The problem is that Hondas have gone upmarket and are plenty nice, and there's little reason to get an Acura,especially when they are aesthetically challenged.  Most Californians won't care about AWD and don't need the extra traction, and it just adds weight, cost, complexity, and hurts fuel economy.

 

The TLX is a step in the right direction over the TL, but I don't think it will have much staying power.

[daves87rs]

How about stop making ugly, bloated vehicles?

 

The problem is that Hondas have gone upmarket and are plenty nice, and there's little reason to get an Acura,especially when they are aesthetically challenged.  Most Californians won't care about AWD and don't need the extra traction, and it just adds weight, cost, complexity, and hurts fuel economy.

 

The TLX is a step in the right direction over the TL, but I don't think it will have much staying power.

 

 

Agreed....

[regfootball]

Legend. Integra. Vigor. Interesting names. Acura lacks style and Honda never innovates in anything.

[regfootball]

Honda really shouldnt pretend that Acura is cutting edge. Look at Lincoln , they just make tarted up puff cruisers now and don't try to ever pretend to be all about performance. Seems to work well for them. Just make really posh good looking Hondas.

[Robert Hall]

So they want to be a Japanese Audi..

[Drew Dowdell]

So they want to be a Japanese Audi..

 

They want to be an expensive Subaru.