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2014 Acura MDX ad campaign the most expensive in brand's history

Realizing that it must spend more marketing dollars to compete with the more established luxury automakers, Acura is preparing to launch its most expensive ad campaign ever for its redesigned 2014 MDX. At $78 million, according to Advertising Age, the new "Made for Mankind" campaign that kicks off next month is exactly double what Acura spent on the 2013 RDX launch last year. It's also the brand's first cooperation with its new agency, Boston- and Los-Angeles-based Mullen Advertising. Thanks to its bigger budget, we'll be seeing ads for the MDX pop up just about everywhere from television commercials, cinemas and billboards to videos focused on computers and mobile devices.
The first such video is entitled "Human Race," and it enunciates Acura's recent tagline highlight, the synergy between man and machine. More interestingly, the 2014 MDX, which went on sale this month, doesn't make an appearance in the 60-second spot until close to the end. This video is posted below as well as a press release from Acura along with images of various ads we should start soon.

Acura TLX Type S PMC Edition reservations open tomorrow

The good news: If you decided you must have the 2023 Acura TLX Type S PMC Edition, Acura would like you to know the reservation system opens tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern time, 10 a.m. Pacific time. The not-exactly-good news: Acura doesn't yet want you to know the price. All the automaker would say about MSRP is that it's "expected to be in the low-to-mid $60K range." That doesn't strike us as an unreasonable premium in relation to the standard sedan's $55,000 starting price, when the PMC Edition is built like an NSX, comes in NSX colors and exclusive color combos, and is limited to 300 units. We have to admit, however, that the times we live in have warped all our reference points. Now for the bad news: Acura is releasing the run one color at a time, so today's reservations will only be for the 100 units of the Curva Red special model. Another 100 examples in 130R White can be reserved at an unknown time on November 9, the final 100 in Long Beach Blue can be reserved on December 8. In an age when mass-market makers can't build enough vehicles and buyers are paying 5% or more over sticker for a Honda or a Hyundai, we can already imagine the carnage headed to the Acura website when the horde moves in to fight for 100 spots. If you want this car and you have a lamp, now's the time to start rubbing the lamp.  All PMC Edition cars get a Berlina Black (also an NSX shade) painted roof, antenna, and door handles, the quad exhaust finished in black chrome instead of the bright chrome that comes standard. You get the same Y-spoke 20-inch wheels as the regular Type S, finished in a new copper paint. There's a carbon fiber lip spoiler in front, a carbon fiber decklid spoiler, a rear diffuser in the same weave, alongside glossy black side sill garnish and model badging.  Inside, carbon fiber trim keeps the cabin on brand, accessorized with illuminated side sills, unique Type S-badged floor mats with color-matched edging, and serialized plaques on the center console. The Curva Red sedan gets an Ebony black interior with red stitching. Long Beach Blue cars get an Orchid (cream) interior with blue stitching. The 130R White cars will get a red interior. Occupants recline in Milano leather seats with Ultrasuede inserts, driver and passenger able to adjust them 16 ways.  Similar to other Acura PMC cars, this one is put through the same quality control checks as the NSX, including a dyno check, rough road simulation, and paint inspection.

Kia leads J.D. Power's Vehicle Dependability Study for 2022

For the first year ever, Kia leads J.D. Power's annual Vehicle Dependability Study with a score of 145 problems per 100 vehicles. Buick (147) and Hyundai (148) round out the top three. The highest premium brand on the list is Genesis, with a score of 148. It's common for so-called "mass market" brands to lead this particular study, according to J.D. Power, as "premium" brands "typically incorporate more technology in their vehicles, which increases the likelihood for problems to occur" and aren't necessarily built to a higher standard that less-expensive brands. The highest-rated single nameplate is the Porsche 911. It's the third time out of the past four years and the second year in a row that Porsche's quintessential sports car has taken top honors. Porsche as a brand sits in seventh place (162) just behind Lexus (159) and ahead of Dodge (166). At the very bottom of the list is Land Rover with a dismal score of 284; the SUV specialist held the same unfortunate distinction on last year's list. Ram (266), Volvo (256), Alfa Romeo (245) and Acura (244) also performed poorly. The overall industry average score sits at 192 — mass market brands average a score of 190 while premium brands sit 14 points lower at 204. While Tesla is unofficially included in some of J.D. Power's results, the agency says the sample size it has access to for this study is too small to include. As has been the case for the past several years, infotainment systems dominate the list of problems reported by owners. Popular (or unpopular, depending on your point of view) complaints include built-in voice recognition (8.3 PP100), Android Auto/Apple CarPlay connectivity (5.4 PP100), built-in Bluetooth system (4.5 PP100), not enough power plugs/USB ports (4.2 PP100), navigation systems difficult to understand/use (3.7 PP100), touchscreen/display screen (3.6 PP100), and navigation system inaccurate/outdated map (3.6 PP100). While problems with the car's infotainment and technology packages are indeed bothersome, it's important to remember that such issues aren't usually leaving owners stranded with an immovable vehicle like a broken transmission or blown engine would. Culling infotainment complaints from the results would reduce the average problem-per-100-vehicle score by a staggering 51.9 points. The vehicles included in this study are from the 2019 model year. That means owners have had three years to get to know their cars and trucks. It's the 33rd year that J.D.