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Honda discontinuing Euro Accord, no replacement in sight

Honda has built two Accords for many years. There's the one we're familiar with here in the United States, and then there's the Accord sold in markets like Europe and Australia, known here in the US as the Acura TSX. But just like Acura did with the TSX, the Euro-market Accord has been discontinued.
The news comes from The Motor Report in Australia, which is reporting that the Accord Euro will be discontinued in 2015. Sold Down Under alongside the US-market model, the discontinuation of the Aussie car indicates an end to Honda's midsize sedan efforts in Europe, where there is no obvious replacement for the four-door and wagon models.
According to TMR, Honda Australia Director Stephen Collins indicated that focus will be placed instead on the US market "wide-body" model, as it's known. That said, this decision doesn't sound like it's sitting too well in Oz.

Acura Precision EV Concept reveal predicts the future at Monterey Car Week

Monterey Car Week is getting into full swing, and Acura showed up with its new Precision EV Concept. Acura makes it fairly clear that this concept isn’t a preview for any particular future electric SUV, but instead is showing it as an example of what the companyÂ’s design themes will be for all upcoming EVs. The exterior is striking from the first glance as it wears a new-for-Acura Double Apex Blue shade of paint with a matte finish. AcuraÂ’s designers say the car's shape was inspired by luxury Italian power boats. As is the case with many new EVs and EV concepts, the exterior lighting is as integral to the design as anything. The Pentagon grille weÂ’re accustomed to seeing on Acuras is replaced with a light-up fascia that mimics the look and shape of AcuraÂ’s regular passthrough grille. YouÂ’ll also notice the patchy lighting in the corners of the front and rear bumpers, and Acura is calling this “Particle Glitch” lighting that is meant to look like the spokes on the 23-inch wheels. Both the headlight and taillight designs look like an evolution of AcuraÂ’s “chicane” light signature seen on current production cars. While Acura says this SUV isnÂ’t a concept for a specific car, it sure looks like it could serve as a preview to the brandÂ’s first electric SUV based off the Honda Prologue. Acura has previously said that its version of the Prologue would come in 2024, and it mentions that the design language you see here would first be witnessed in that SUV. Things look and feel a little less real when you step inside the Precision EV Concept. Acura says it was inspired by a Formula 1 cockpit and features lots of recycled/sustainable materials. You sit low down. And a yoke steering device replaces a traditional steering wheel — we genuinely hope this stays in the concept and never makes it to production. Two drive modes, a manual driving mode and an autonomous driving mode, change up the cabin. The “Instinctive” drive mode leaves the yoke in place, allowing you to drive and control the car. It brings up racing style instrumentation and makes all the in-cabin lighting red. Meanwhile, “Spiritual Lounge” mode transforms the Precision EV Concept into an autonomous vehicle, retracting the steering yoke and projecting underwater animations on the various screens. Speaking of those screens, Acura calls this a preview of a new infotainment system. ItÂ’s a super-wide, curved screen, and itÂ’s a touchscreen.

2019 Acura NSX Track Test Review | Exotic tech, exhilarating performance

EAST LIBERTY, Ohio — The 2019 Acura NSX makes sonorous noises behind my ear as the tachometer soars toward 7,500 rpm. My hands grip the squared-off steering wheel a bit too hard as I scrub off about 60 mph and dive into the first corner of the Transportation Research Center (TRC) dynamic handling course. There's 3,878 pounds of car beneath me, but the front tires do exactly what my hands tell them to, without hesitation, and I'm through the double apex corner without even thinking about the defiance of physics I just witnessed. On paper, a nearly 4,000-pound track car makes no sense. Yet in practice, it's just as tossable and eager to change direction as something much lighter. This is the NSX's party trick, thanks to some magic with the suspension and all-wheel drive system on this car. And while the new NSX is a very different vehicle than its predecessor, it was born of a similar spirit of innovation and forward thinking. The original Acura NSX hit the streets in 1991, establishing a new set of rules for every supercar released since. Constructed of an aluminum body — still an exotic material mainly used in competition vehicles — with curves that still drop jaws today, it was every bit as sophisticated as a Ferrari. But unlike Ferraris of the time, it was also reliable and easy to drive. Slide behind the wheel of a 1991 NSX, and you'll be transported back to a time when outward visibility was still in style. You can see the ground right in front of the nose. Turn around, and there's nothing blocking your view but a low wing. It's essentially a bubble canopy. Acura knows owners of the original NSX, your author included, absolutely love this about their cars. The effort to make the cockpit of the NSX similar is appreciated, even if modern crash standards prevent a perfect implementation. There are other subtle throwbacks. Every original NSX made a distinctive intake whine when winding it up to 8,000 rpm, and the new NSX has real intake noise physically pumped into the cabin to replicate this sweet sound all the way through the rev band. Another echo of the original is the simplified, sedate dash layout — eminently usable and likely to age well. A simplified version of the new RDX infotainment system would have fit the bill, too, but sadly it's not present. Under way, however, the generational similarities cease. Our time on this trip in the 2019 model was spent solely on track at TRC, and it was a wholly different experience from the old car.