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Acura NSX electric revival? 'I would bet on it'

This year marks the end of the Acura NSX as we know it. Its swan song, the 600-horsepower 2022 Type S, saw only 300 made for the U.S. market, and all of them sold out in 24 hours. It's barely disappeared over the horizon, but Acura's V.P. and brand officer is already previewing the NSX's third act. Speaking with Nikkei Asia, Jon Ikeda was asked whether a third generation NSX was forthcoming. "I would bet on it," he said. Ikeda also predicted that if the wager lands in his favor, "it's going to be [all-]electric." This falls in line with statements Ikeda made a year ago. At the time, he explained that the NSX emerges when parent company Honda wants to make a statement: The first generation was Honda's vision for an F1-derived petrol-powered supercar; the second generation arrived as an affordable hybrid halo car in the age of gasoline-electrics. He didn't elaborate on the third generation's powertrain back then, but this time Ikeda was more adamant about electric power.  Part of Ikeda's certainty, the article states, comes from global CEO Toshihiro Mibe's commitment to electrify Honda's lineup. Soon after taking the top job in April 2021, Mibe announced plans to convert Honda's entire lineup to EVs and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2040. As for what kind of car an electric NSX would be, Ikeda has some ideas. "It won't be just about straight lines," he told Nikkei Asia. Blistering acceleration is already common in the electric supercar world, so Acura would need to bring something novel to the table. Ikeda wants the NSX to be a technological showcase for ultimate handling as well, something the outgoing NSX did with its driver-focused Super Handling AWD system.  We've long bemoaned how the new breed of electrified supercars have incredible specs on paper, but somehow don't feel as engaging to drive. That's a niche Acura could fill. In the often contentious give and take between American Honda and Honda Motor's engineering departments, the Japan mothership tends to win out. However, these days Honda barely sells anything beyond kei cars in Japan. It's up to leaders like Ikeda and those who understand the U.S. market to drag the company toward the performance-minded engineering philosophies Old Man Soichiro founded his business on. Related video:

Daily Driver: 2015 Acura TLX

Daily Driver videos are micro-reviews of vehicles in the Autoblog press fleet, reviewed by the staffers who drive them every day. Today's Daily Driver features the 2015 Acura TLX, reviewed by Seyth Miersma. You can watch the video above or read a transcript below. Watch more Autoblog videos at /videos. Show full video transcript text Hey all, this is Seyth with Autoblog and I'm here in the 2015 Acura TLX. Right off the bat I can tell that the TLX doesn't feel anything like as sporting a sedan as the TL it replaced, at least not in the versions that I last drove, which admittedly were TL's with V6 power and the SH all wheel drive. This TLX has got a 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine, it's making 206 horsepower, and 182 pound-feet of torque, and it is connected up to a eight-speed, dual-clutch transmission. As you can tell by the power output this isn't an impressively fast car. It weighs about 3,500 pounds so it's lugging around some weight. At the same time the eight-speed transmission is really responsive especially as you go through the selectable gear programs, you can make the throttle response pretty good. It is a throttle by wire as well and I haven't noticed any weirdness there, it feels very linear, and like I said, when I turned the system into the sport plus mode the gas pedal becomes really responsive. The exhaust note is muted, you really have to get up over 5,000 rpm before you start feeling like the engine is really pushing you. One of the things that struck me first about this Acura when I got in it was how quiet it was at speed. I feel like in the luxury segment, Acuras have historically done a little bit better for being sportier versions of cars in their segment and not necessarily more refined, but that seems to have been changing a lot on the last few generations of Acura. What it lacks in athletic ability it makes up for in composure. I'm on a pretty good right now, there are plenty of bad ones around where I live so this suspension soaks up a lot of the impacts and it dampens the sound of them as well too. Acura is clearly going after a much more mainstream customer these days and I think a car like this could be very attractive, more attractive than ever for a shopper of something like a Lexus ES. One feature I did play around with was Acura's active lane keep assist which works actually by moving the steering wheel to a degree to keep you centered in your lane if your hands are off the wheel.

2015 Acura TLX

Immediately after landing at Washington's Dulles airport, an Acura representative handed me the keys to a 2014 TSX with fewer than 180 miles on its clock. The four-cylinder engine started and I pointed its signature beak towards a destination in Middleburg, VA. It was a curious move by the Japanese automaker, especially considering that I had flown no less than 2,300 miles to drive the discontinued vehicle's ostensible successor, the all-new 2015 Acura TLX.
Yet spending a solid 40 minutes with a sparkling-new version of the outgoing model that still smelled showroom fresh, allowed me an opportunity to scrutinize the dropped sedan and remind myself why it had never really blown me away - it was good at doing many things, but truly great at doing none.
Time with the TSX also started me thinking about the Acura TL, the second model that the TLX will effectively replace. I have better memories of the slightly larger sedan, especially the SH-AWD 6MT trim - it's a solid driver's car - but it, too, fell short in areas where competitors, including the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, Cadillac ATS, Lexus IS and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, excelled.