mmarshall

Look no further than the VW Phaeton, BMW X6, and Lincoln Mark pickup truck. Compared to them, even the slow-selling RL looks like free beer at Clancy's bar. The Phaeton was dropped after less than two years in the American market (although there's some talk of bringing it back for another try).

mmarshall

Would you believe, Mike, that, several years ago, when I was helping my ex-supervisor buy a new GMC Yukon XL at a local Pontiac-GMC shop, a young couple dropped in while I was inspecting his new Yukon, looked at a new white Aztek, took it out for a test-drive, fell in love with it, and then took it home an hour or so later. (yes, I'm serious)


I went up to the sales rep afterwards (a young guy more or less just starting out) and told him he was very lucky to get that sale. He winked an eye at me and said "Yes, Mr. Marshall......that's what we've been told about these Azteks".

IS-SV

Yes, more pathetic examples of failures in terms of automotive sales. The differences at these low sales rates aren't worth the time or trouble to compare, bottom tier simply. Discount to clear the inventory is last plan of action.

TZH

Any photo ~?

-J-P-L-

Here's some "real life" photos (as opposed to the usual studio shots).

Blackraven

Unfortunately for them, their choice of design for the wheels/rims is well........not pleasing.

For me personally, it's still passable if either exterior body design or wheels/rims design is okay (it has worked for the new Subaru Legacy and other cars). But if both are bad, then it's bad all the way......

The G Man

Acura must be hiring marketing people and designers out of high school. Lets face it, people who are looking at a BMW X6 is not to consider this car. The ZDX's competition as far as I am concerned are: Q5, GLK, X3, RX, EX or even the RDX. The ZDX is the most expensive of all of these cars, it is price a bit above the German counterparts. The ZDX doesnt have the look or performnce to justify that price tag.

STIG

Nice! When do they start taking pre-order of these puppies? I will be waiting in line overnight in front of acura dealer.

Another Fugly car.

I really think auto makers have run out of ideas.

mmarshall

Agreed.....but an ugly skin does not always make an ugly car underneath.



Not really. IMO, it's auto designers like Chris Bangle (perhaps the best example) who DON'T leave well enough alone and try to "fix" stuff that isn't broke that actually cause most of the trouble. We also saw the same nonsense, of course, in the last few years, at Acura......trying to "fix" styling that isn't broke.

-J-P-L-

Part of it is that companies feel that they need to strongly stand apart from everyone else. At Acura, that is a big part of their philosophy whether some of us like it or not. They get bashed for not being like Lexus, BMW, MB, ect. Their executives have made it clear that they will not follow in the same light as those companies but fill their own unique market. I think that's good.

Acura is purposely trying to stand out boldly in a crowded marketplace. They're not trying to be ugly, and I don't think they are. I LOVE the styling of the whole line. Not everyone can like a design so different. That's normal.

CDNROCKIES

You, of course, are entitled to your opinion. But the sales numbers clearly show that the majority of car buyers disagree with you. They are pushing their existing customers further away with this corporate mission that you speak of.

IS-SV

That's some of the most humerous discussion of Acura (styling) since the execs at Acura said they wanted to be tier1 lux without DOHC, without DI, without 6/7/8 speed auto trannies, without any V8's, etc. Good to know they are not trying to be ugly. I was wondering.

S2000toIS350

To Tromly's point about market research.

I was paid a few bucks like 3 years ago to be on a focus group for this dog.

There were a bunch of guys, mostly MDX owners there.

All of us crapped on this stupid thing.

We kept saying you promised us an NSX replace so where is it.

I will concede that the interior materials and combinations they showed were a great improvement over the stuff in the 04 TL (the only Honda product I ever bought that I categorized as a mistake) our kid had (till I dumped it earlier this year).

The focus group was videotaped so the marketing folks saw our faces wrench in disgust after being shown conceptual drawings of Aztec 2.

Will it be a competent machine that can take empty nesters like me on fun week end outings in comfort and security? Absolutely. Would I ever pony up for one? No way.

CDNROCKIES

^^^^^ So we can blame you for not getting your point across well enough?

LexFather

Good info to have.....a bunch of blind people over there that have made the entire Honda/Acura lineup is horrid now that the S2000 is gone. With them closing the Euro studio, expect more awful.