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Acura dealer association nabs retiring pitcher Mariano Rivera for New York spot

Mariano Rivera, considered one of Major League Baseball's best relief and closing pitchers, bought an Acura when he debuted in the major leagues in 1995, and has owned nothing but Acuras since. So it was only natural for the New York Acura Dealers group to strike up a partnership. The fruits of the deal can be seen in the latest New York Acura commercial, called "Legends," which stars Rivera and Acuras new and old. It's narrated by actor Steve Schirripa, who played Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri in HBO's The Sopranos.
"The spots are a nod to Acura's history and the years it overlapped with Mariano's career," says Scott Rodgers, chief creative officer at Tier10, the ad agency that developed the campaign's concept. With the "Legends" campaign, Rivera and the New York Acura Dealers continue a partnership that has provided $800,000 to the pitcher's charity, the Mariano Rivera Foundation.
The hardest part of the commercial was was finding the cars to star in it, according to Douglas Sonders, co-founder of 8112 Studios, the production company that shot the commercial. "Social media saved the day for us," he says. "After days of cold calls and e-mails to all of our contacts, we ended up sourcing everything we needed in 24 hours after asking our online contacts for assistance."

Acura Street Performance ILX had an unfortunate smelting accident

There's a fun cliche for all-black cars based on an old Chevrolet Impala SS advertisement - "Lord Vader, your car is ready." It's been reproduced seemingly every time an automaker comes out with a menacing, black car. This Acura Street Performance ILX is for a different movie villain, though. Its advertisement should read, "Goldmember, your car is ready."
Yes, this is a matte gold car, and would probably be lusted after by that freaky deeky Dutch villain. And while it's easy to poke fun at the car's paint job, we're actually quite impressed with what Acura and MAD Industries have done with the car's mechanicals. The 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine has been boosted to 250 horsepower at the front wheels, thanks to a CT Engineering supercharger and an ECU reflash. A CT Engineering intake adds to the grunt, as does a new, prototype Greddy exhaust.
The car rides on 19-inch Nitto NT05 Max tires and TSW Max wheels, while Tein Super Street coilovers and a Stoptech big brake kit make the compact Acura a bit more controllable. Outside the car, an Acura Accessories body kit has been fitted, while the cabin sports a CT Engineering short shift kit, and a few other items from the Acura catalog.

Acura recalls 2013-2014 ILX, ILX Hybrid over fire-prone headlamps

The Acura ILX just can't seem to catch a break. The Japanese automaker recently decided that the ILX Hybrid would no longer be offered in the US for the 2015 model year. Now, a possibility for fires has also cropped up in the compact luxury sedan. Acura has announced a recall of 14,078 examples from the 2013 and 2014 model years because the headlights could overheat and ignite the car. The company also issued a stop-sale for examples still at dealers until they can be repaired.
The campaign covers ILX and ILX Hybrid models with halogen projector headlights from specific build dates. The problem is that the headlights aren't cooled sufficiently when the cars aren't moving. After several hours of sitting with them on, it's possible for the lights to build up so much heat that they melt and potentially cause a fire.
To Acura's knowledge, there was only one case of an ILX actually catching fire due to this problem, though. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defect notice, a car was idling at a dealer for about two hours when the model went up in flames. The automaker brought the vehicle in for a detailed investigation to find what caused the blaze.