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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 Honda S2000 roadster rumors swell

Our friends over at Car and Driver have been speculating about a possible S2000 roadster from an unnamed insider source. While there's not much to go on, it certainly squares with a steady drumbeat of sporty car innuendo surrounding the company. Let's briefly connect the dots and see if a Honda S2000 might be on the way by 2018, as the rumor says. The little roadster pictured above? Definitely not what a new S2000 would look like. That's the S660, which is sold in Japan and shares some components with the N-Box and N-One microcars. As we told you last year, after some hints that it would come to the US, Honda's brass decided it was too small. That was disappointing, but probably the right call. On the other hand, Honda finally brought out the 2017 Acura NSX, which may have its flaws but still represents a unique platform that the company spent a great deal of yen building ( in Ohio, by the way). It's that bit that the rumor hinges on: Honda's willingness to develop unique platforms for its sporty models. It'd need that for an S2000 revival, because there's certainly no Honda model that could donate its underpinnings at this moment. Honda execs have been clear that the company is under pressure from dealers over the lack of verve in the company's lineup. American Honda Executive Vice President John Mendel told Automotive News last year that dealers "want anything in the sports car world. They're going, 'Gimme a sports car.' They want a retractable hardtop; they want a high-horsepower $20,000-sports car. Because that's the nature of what they do." Honda is allegedly going to utilize some sunk cost by employing the new Civic Type R's engine in this roadster. That 2.0-liter turbocharged four makes 306 hp in the Civic, and would make slightly less than that in the S2000, according to the rumor. At this stage, these rumors are mostly wishful thinking fanned by the flames of dealer pressure for sporty models. We hope Car and Driver's insider has it right, because the S2000 was a phenomenal car that deserves a follow-up – and Honda deserves more fun cars in its American showrooms. Related Video: Featured Gallery Honda S660: Honda Meeting 2015 View 15 Photos News Source: Car and Driver Rumormill Acura Honda Convertible Performance roadster honda s660 rumors

New 2022 Acura MDX platform to underpin future Hondas

The 2022 Acura MDX introduces a new platform to the Acura and Honda lineup called the Global Light Truck Platform, and it's currently exclusive to the MDX. The new 2021 Acura TLX is also built on a totally new platform that isn’t shared with any other Honda or Acura. Going further back, when the redesigned 2019 RDX debuted, Acura said that model was built on “a new-from-the-ground-up, Acura-exclusive platform." ThatÂ’s three totally-new and Acura-exclusive platforms in a short time period, and it got us thinking. What is Acura up to here?  Most manufacturers these days are increasingly going in the exact opposite direction. VolkswagenÂ’s MQB architecture underpins everything from the hot hatch GTI to the gigantic Atlas. ToyotaÂ’s TNGA platform has multiple sizes/versions, but Toyota still considers them related and will tell you that TNGA is the basis of cars from the Corolla on up to the Highlander, plus the Lexus UX and ES. You can find similar stories all across the industry, in both luxury and non-luxury brands. Acura, on the other hand, appears to be taking a totally different approach. To get some clarity on strategy, we reached out to Acura. The answers are multifaceted, but Acura says it's spending money where it pays dividends for performance — but there's also more sharing between models than it might look like on the surface. “The definition of what constitutes a 'common platform' varies by automaker,” Acura exclusively told Autoblog during a wide-ranging e-mail interview involving the input of numerous engineers and product planners. “For us, the most fundamental value is to maintain the same carry points throughout production and enable us to produce different vehicles in the same manufacturing environment.” As an example, the TLX and RDX feature similar carry points in the chassis to enable their production on the same line, but thatÂ’s where the two diverge. “The TLX is different in that it has a bespoke platform that is not shared with any other Acura or Honda vehicle,” Acura says.