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Honda reports $1.9 billion profit in first quarter despite sales lag at home

Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have been living in a world of sunshine and buttercups after their April-through-June financials hit the newswire, and Toyota is doing pretty good as well. Honda? Not so much.
While Japan's third-largest manufacturer saw $1.9 billion in profits, the 5.1-percent jump was lower than expected thanks to a drop in its home-market sales. US sales also took a sting, as Honda hasn't been able to match the SUV and truck demand that are currently permeating the American market, despite an uptick in Accord sales.
Honda's initial forecasts targeted a take of 209.3 billion yen ($2.1 billion at today's rates), and while a $200 million shortfall is nothing to sniff at, we'd hardly take this as Honda being in trouble. And even with the dip, Honda hasn't adjusted its forecast for the fiscal year, which remains at 780 billion yen ($7.9 billion).

2022 Acura RDX pricing starts at $40,345, a $900 increase

Acura showed us the quieter, more featured, and better handling 2022 RDX five-seater crossover in September. With the model expected to drive onto dealer lots in about two weeks, it's time for pricing. The base price for a front-wheel drive RDX goes up by $900 to $40,345 after the $1,045 destination charge. Be warned, that price is only for a Lunar Silver RDX; the four other colors possible on the base trim cost $500, and the three pearlescent hues require both the $2,650 Technology Package and the $3,000 Advance Package. MSRPs for the entire 2022 RDX range are: RDX FWD: $40,345 RDX FWD with Technology Package: $42,995 RDX FWD A-Spec with Technology Package: $45,995 RDX SH-AWD with Advance Package: $50,345 RDX SH-AWD A-Spec with Advance Package: $52,345 RDX SH-AWD PMC Edition: $55,295 As indicated on Acura's pricing sheet, adding SH-AWD to the three front-wheel-drive models requires $2,200. Fyi, the RDX configurator on Acura's web site displays the price for SH-AWD as $2,000, but the summary actually adds the correct $2,200 figure to the tally.   Every RDX next year will be quieter thanks to a retuned Active Sound Control system and, as part of the MDX-inspired redesign, new front fender liners that reduce road noise. The new Technology Package cuts even more cacophony thanks to thicker carpet, acoustic glass in the front doors, more sound insulation throughout the cabin, plus it throws in features like perforated sport seats, 12-speaker ELS audio, parking sensors front and rear, swankier 19-inch wheels, and a rear camera washer. The A-Spec Package takes the rims up to 20 inches, and bundles gear like LED fog lights, heated front seats, a flat-bottom steering wheel, and 16-speaker ELS audio. For 2022, Acura will finally let customers combine the A-Spec with the Advance Package. The latter kit piles on even more sound deadening material, acoustic glass for the rear windows, plus bits like a heated steering wheel and rear seats, a hands-free tailgate, and adaptive dampers. Those dampers are drop wheel size back down to 19 inches, though. The 2022 RDX can be pre-ordered now, examples will be in showrooms come November 2. Related Video:

This is why Acura hasn't yet announced its EV strategy

Despite parent company Honda's green and friendly brand image, luxury marque Acura hasn't made a grand statement about electrifying their lineup. Even as brands like Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley, and Infiniti pledge to entirely electrify their lineups in the coming decade, Acura has held back. The reason, according to Acura head honcho Jon Ikeda, is that it's focusing on reestablishing itself as a performance brand. In a wide-ranging interview with Automotive News, Ikeda says Acura came out of the gate strong in 1986 and did well for the first 20 years, but when the bottom fell out of the market in 2008 the brand experienced "growing pains." That spawned a period of self-reflection and, as Ikeda puts it, "What are we about?" The decision was made to go back to Acura's roots as the performance division of Honda. "That's what Acura is. That's what I fell in love with," Ikeda says. Ikeda joined Honda in 1989, but his promotion to Acura boss in 2015 was a surprise to many, including himself. That's because Honda had a tradition of putting engineers at the helm, and Ikeda was a designer, responsible for the looks of such cars as the FSX concept, 2001 Civic Coupe, and beloved 2004 Acura TL. 2021 Acura TLX Advance View 38 Photos When asked by AN whether Acura is worried that luxury competitors are putting stakes in the ground to claim EV brand identities, Ikeda says no. "For us as a brand, we needed to kind of refocus and reestablish ourselves as a performance brand... We want everybody to understand where we are, what we're about first. Even if we go electric we will continue to be a performance division of Honda and performance will be our focus." To earn its performance street cred, Acura poured resources into the second-gen NSX hybrid supercar, which served as testbed for how electricity can work harmoniously with performance. They will continue to campaign IMSA race cars to earn trophies as proof, and Ikeda also wants to bring more Type S models to the lineup. Ikeda says Acura is still in the process of rebuilding its foundation, but when he's done he expects people to associate Acura with performance. That sure seems ambitious to us, but products like the new TLX are a helpful stepping stone. It also explains why Acura is investing in different platforms to differentiate itself from Honda. To be clear, Ikeda isn't ruling out electrification.