Again from ACURA about RWD vehicles and V8s. What a joke
Acura Says Can Achieve Tier-1 Status Without RWD
By Christie Schweinsberg
WardsAuto.com, Jul 29, 2009 3:25 PM
ROCHESTER, MI – Despite buzz from Japan that Honda Motor Co. Ltd. has shelved development of a rear-wheel-drive platform for its Acura luxury brand, a U.S. Acura official remains confident.
“Can we compete with (first-tier luxury) brands Mercedes, Lexus and BMW without RWD? Yes,” Gary Robinson, assistant manager-Acura product planning, tells Ward’s Tuesday during an Acura media event.
Robinson does not discuss the program’s cancellation, but new Honda CEO Takanobu Ito rocked the Acura faithful last week when he reportedly announced work had been halted on a RWD initiative.
Analysts and industry watchers blame Acura’s prolonged near-luxury status on its lack of RWD platforms and V-8 engines.
“It would be meaningless to emulate what other companies have been doing for more than five decades,” Ito reportedly said of nixing RWD and a V-8. Development of the latter had been championed by former Honda CEO Takeo Fukui.
“Just when it seems like things were looking up for Acura…the news has been steadily getting worse for the past six months or so,” Jeff Palmer, founder of the enthusiast website Temple of VTEC, says in a posted response to Ito.
“The cumulative effect of this series of blows is taking its toll on Acura's brand credibility amongst enthusiasts, which arguably drive a brand's overall image.”
Robinson says Ito’s remarks were not defeatist in any way, just his way of saying Acura wants to carve out its own version of luxury instead of following competitors.
Acura TSX V-6 variant signals brand strategy.
“I don’t think Ito-san said anything that stood out in one way or another for us, because I think we’re all pretty clear on what the direction for Acura is,” Robinson says, adding Honda founder Soichiro Honda pioneered this sort of thinking.
“His thing was about being a renegade and doing things his own way and trying to figure out what was the right thing for the market and the right thing for the customer… not just copying other people,” he says.
“So, at Acura, that’s definitely something we’ve been thinking about a lot. What does it mean to make an Acura luxury car? You shouldn’t be like everybody else. We don’t want to be another Lexus; we don’t want to be another BMW; we don’t want to be another Mercedes.
“We want somebody who’s shopping those cars to think of us in the same breath, and we want them to have a reason for buying our car that’s different.”
Robinson is fuzzy about Acura’s brand direction but says boosting fuel economy is a major focus, noting any technology that improves fuel economy is “something we’re going to be looking at.”
Those technologies include direct injection, cylinder deactivation, hybrid-electric vehicles and the possible migration of the 2.3L turbocharged 4-cyl. in the RDX small cross/utility vehicle to other Acura models.
Expanding the engine’s use is “another one of those things we’re looking at as an option to improve fuel economy and another one that has the potential to offer both fuel economy and power,” Robinson says.
Direct injection, while enabling more efficient combustion, has downsides such as added cost and noise, he says. A nearer-term fuel-economy solution is Acura’s first 6-speed automatic transmission, rolling out in the ’10 MDX CUV, as well as the new ’10 ZDX 4-door sports coupe, later this year.
Compared with the ’09 MDX, which mated a 3.7L V-6 engine to a 5-speed automatic transmission, the ’10 MDX’s fuel-economy rating is expected to improve by 1 mpg (0.4 km/L) in both city and highway driving to 16-21 mpg (14.7-11.2 L/100 km) city/highway.
The 6-speed transmission eventually will make its way into other Acura models, Robinson says. Near-term it also is set to power the ZDX.
Despite Acura’s fuel-economy aspirations, don’t expect a diesel engine from the brand. Honda says the 4-cyl. i-DTEC turbodiesel mill, a version of which powers the European Honda Accord, sold as the TSX in the U.S., is delayed.
Sources told Ward’s last fall the engine was destined for the TSX.
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American Honda Motor Co. Inc. spokesman Chuck Schifsky says to get the diesel back on track isn’t a simple matter of picking up where development left off. Engineers would need to reevaluate diesel’s position in the U.S. market from the point in time they decide to reinsert the engine into the product pipeline.
However, Acura will use its Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive system to enhance its luxury cachet. Already featured on the RL and MDX, the system debuts this fall on the TL sedan, Robinson says.
“We like what it’s done for the brand. Our customers like it. It’s been a very good image thing for Acura,” he says. “The technology itself will continue to evolve.”
Customer research shows AWD is becoming a must-have feature for luxury buyers, Robinson says, regardless of where they live.
Other future strategies include introducing more variants of existing models. That already is taking place with the ’10 TSX, going on sale soon. It benefits from Acura’s optional 3.5L V-6 engine, a step up from its standard-equipment 2.4L inline 4-cyl.
“All of us now have to look at Civic-, Accord- and CR-V-type vehicles on the Honda side (and) that volume number,” says Schifsky. “I don’t know if we’re ever going to see those kinds of (high-volume) vehicles crop up again.”
“Niching the niche of a niche” is any auto maker’s best hope for volume growth and expansion of its lineup, he adds. “We’re in as good a position as anybody to capitalize on that (strategy).”
cschweinsberg@wardsauto.com
ACURA says it can achieve Tier-1 status without RWD and V8s
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