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Acura's GM-based electric crossover may be called ADX

Acura's version of Honda's General Motors-based electric crossover will inaugurate the ADX nameplate, according to a recent report. While nothing is official, the United States Patent and Trademark Office recently granted the Japanese company the rights to the name. Spotted by Car & Driver, the trademark application was filed by Honda on December 22, 2021, and approved three days later. Nothing suggests it's for a Honda, but a model called ADX would slot neatly into the Acura range, which also includes the MDX and the RDX. The filing asks more questions than it answers. What's an Acura ADX? One possibility is that the nameplate might appear on Acura's version of the Honda Prologue, which is due out for the 2024 model year. It will be based on a GM-designed platform, and it will be powered by the same Ultium battery technology found under the Cadillac Lyriq, among other EVs. We know it will spawn an Acura, too. It's important to note that nothing in the filing mentions an electric powertrain. Acura's range only includes two crossovers, which is far below the industry average (Lexus has five crossovers and SUVs; even Lincoln has four) so the ADX name could end up on a non-electric addition to the range. The line-up could grow in a number of directions and many of its dealers are asking for bigger and small people-movers. As we've said before, a patent or a trademark filing is not a guarantee that a feature or a nameplate will see the light that awaits at the end of a production line. Carmakers routinely protect their intellectual property to ensure that it doesn't end up in the hands of a rival. Although there's no such thing as an Acura ADX — at least not yet — the name falls in line with the company's naming system. Imagine the confusion that would ensue if, say, Lexus released a crossover called ADX that was aimed directly at the 355-horsepower Acura MDX Type S. Acura hasn't commented on the report, and it hasn't revealed what its Honda and General Motors-derived model will be called. Related video:

Acura NSX will use Cosworth block, plus other neat tidbits

The blue NSX you see here was built just two weeks ago. Prototype number six, it rolled off Acura's newest assembly line in Ohio and was rushed out to the Monterey peninsula for various car week activities. We had a chance to sit down with several members of the NSX team to discuss the car, the long road from concept to production, and some interesting details. Below are some choice bits from our conversations. Acura is pretty proud of the fact that NSX version 2.0 was designed and is being built in the US. The new assembly line, called the Performance Manufacturing Center, is in Honda's hometown of Marysville, Ohio. While the line is brand new, the building has seen many uses over its lifetime, most recently as a warehouse facility. PMC staff numbers about 100, with 60 technical and 40 non-technical associates. The car uses parts sourced globally, and one of those sources is Cosworth. The engine blocks and heads come from the English firm and get assembled into twin-turbo powerhouses at Honda's nearby Anna, Ohio, engine plant. The Cosworth name is rarely associated with a bad engine, so we were geeked to hear the NSX's 550-plus-horsepower hybrid powertrain has good genes. Acura hasn't decided how many cars will come to the US each year, but supplies will be limited. We're told there is a total figure for global sales – basically anywhere Honda and Acura vehicles are sold – but they're not ready to divulge that number. Dealer allocation is also yet to be sorted out, although we're told that any dealer that has the necessary tools and equipment to service the new NSX will be able to sell them. Acura currently has 272 US dealers. The switch from the transverse engine originally planned to a longitudinal twin-turbo engine threw everyone involved for a loop. The designers had to lengthen their nearly finalized design, and the engineers working on the production process had to revise or redo much of their work. Though we've been waiting a while for the car since the concept first surfaced in 2012, it's pretty amazing to think that the car was engineered one and a half times and a new factory was built in about three years. But yeah, it's delayed, with series production now set to commence in the spring of 2016. One result of the switch to a longitudinal engine is a transmission hump in the cargo area aft of the engine. The hold is still sized to fit a bag of golf clubs, though it will be a tight fit.

Acura built just 91 examples of the ILX last month, here's why

The short life of the Acura ILX has been vexed by one glaringly odd standard equipment choice, mediocre reviews, getting outsold by its competition as it posted slower-than-projected sales and a pledge by Honda to upgrade its supposedly upgraded offering. Therefore, when Automotive News reports that just 91 of the Civic-based Acura sedans were manufactured last month - after a string of production months in double-digits - it would be easy to press the button for the alarm bells.
But that would be hasty, because it is actually the 2013 Honda Civic that is crimping the production pipeline of the ILX. The vastly higher sales numbers of the Honda meant that all three North American plants that produce it needed to crank up output to satisfy dealer inventory needs, including the Greenburg, Indiana plant that makes both the Civic and the ILX. As the classic guns-vs-butter Economy 101 lesson taught us - in which making more of one necessarily means making less of the other - well, the Civic is the gun.
Honda prepared for this eventuality by cranking out the Acuras while it got ready for Civic production. The ILX has held steady at about 500 units shy of company projections every month, and the current inventory represents about 90 days worth of sales. That makes Greenburg's ostensibly low numbers in line with the realities of the ILX, and the situation probably won't change much as Acura gets ready for the improved 2014 ILX.