1991 Acura Nsx Black/black-ivory on 2040-cars

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Acura will sell its EVs exclusively online starting in 2024

Honda has big plans for the new year and electrification will play a huge part of that, the company's recently-promoted SVP of Sales, Mamadou Diallo, told reporters on Tuesday. Expect to see a lot more Honda and Acura hybrids on the road this year, ahead of a major EV push come 2024. Overall, Honda is officially aiming to move 1.2 million units in 2023, with Acura shooting for 160,000 units, a 20-25% increase over what they sold in 2022. And although the company managed to maintain a single-digit days' supply of vehicles throughout last year, it enters 2023 with a glut of cars and trucks and a 17-day supply. As such, dealers are going to be looking to move a lot of that inventory before this year's models start arriving so fingers crossed, we could potentially see some Tesla-level price cuts in the near future. "In 2023, we will see the strategies we've been talking about, including growing sales of light truck models, increasing volume of hybrid-electric models and the start of digital sales at Acura," Diallo said in a Wednesday press release. "All this leads toward our vision of 100-percent electrified sales by 2040 to fulfill our ultimately goal of zero emissions by 2050."  The ZDX and ZDX Type S will be Acura's first full-EV offerings and serve as the harbingers of the company's new, exclusively online EV sales strategy. Diallo didn't have much additional information regarding how the system would work — such as whether haggling was allowed or how individual vehicle prices would be set — but assured the assembled journalists, "as we get closer to [the ZDX debut], we certainly will be discussing this a little bit more with our dealer body and the press in general. For right now we're still finalizing all those details." Acura joins Ford, Volvo, GM and VW in shifting its electrified vehicle sales to the digital marketplace.  For its part, Honda is planning a significant increase in its hybrid vehicle production in 2023, starting with the newly-redesigned Accord and Accord Hybrid (they'll also be Honda's first with Google Built-In). The company "will continue to increase hybrid sales through core models as an important step in bridging customers to full electrified vehicles while reducing GHG emissions," the Wednesday release reads. Honda anticipates a solid half of this year's CR-V and Accord sales to be of the hybrid variety and its efforts bolstered in 2024 with the introduction of a new Civic hybrid.

These are the top luxury cars bought by people entering the segment for the first time

Let's say you just got a big promotion at work or the kids are moving out of the house, and you finally have some extra money. You decide to blow it all at once and treat yourself by upgrading your ride. Naturally, you look to a luxury automaker. What do you choose?
Models like the Audi A3 and Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class may be tailor-made to introduce buyers to the premium segment, but a new study finds that they don't garner the highest rates of non-luxury customer conquests. It turns out that a Volvo leads among folks moving up to a premium brand, and it isn't even one that's made anymore, at that.
A recent study by Polk and IHS Automotive looked at what models had the highest rates of buyers upgrading from a non-luxury segment. The information comes from its new vehicle registration data through April 2014. All ten top models boasted conquest rates of over 50 percent, but the Volvo C70 led the field with 68.01 percent of its customers coming from non-premium brands.

2023 Acura Integra gets a CVT standard, according to leaked trim chart

The 2023 Acura Integra continues to disappoint — is what fans of the original are likely to say upon hearing that the standard transmission for the upcoming sport sedan is a CVT. Acura made a big deal out of the fact that the revived Integra would have a manual transmission prior to its reveal. However, if a newly leaked spec chart is to be believed, most trim levels will only get a continuously variable transmission. Previously some believed that Acura would offer their 10-speed automatic in the Integra, but specs posted to the Integra Talk forum, indicate that is not the case. They show three levels of trim: base, A-Spec, and A-Spec with Tech Package. All come with the CVT, except the A-Spec Tech, which can be optioned with a six-speed manual transmission. It's not unusual anymore for carmakers to offer manual on only the highest-spec trims. Mazda, for example, does the same by offering its manual a single grade, the Premium package for the Mazda 3 hatchback. Whereas the manual was once the cheapest and most fuel-efficient option, these days the thinking is that only true enthusiasts, ones who would be willing to pay more to option out their car to the gills, would care about whether they row their own or not. In addition, the leak appears to list the Integra's color palette for both interior and exterior. Curiously, the Type R-inspired yellow of the concept doesn't appear to be on the menu. Instead, we get red, blue, white, silver, gray, and black. The A-Spec does get one exclusive hue, Apex Blue Pearl, to set it apart. Interiors get a choice of black, orchid or red, but not all of them can be paired with all exterior paints. We don't think that the manual's appearance on only the top trim is a problem per se. We don't know what the Integra's Tech Package will include, but on cars like the TLX or RDX it includes features like a premium audio system, navigation, and driver assist safety alerts. These aren't necessarily items a true enthusiast driver who prefers a purer driving experience would want. Still, we're glad Acura's offering a stick in an environment downright hostile to sedans, compacts, and manuals. We do think, though, that the Integra A-Spec (without the Tech Package) might have been the sweet spot for the manual. But no one asked us.