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Honda, Acura lay out future plans: HR-V and more coming in 2022

Automakers and PR representatives are notoriously tight-lipped about upcoming vehicles. The infamous line that all of us in the car news business are familiar with is, "We cannot comment on future product." But this week, Honda opened up a little bit and laid out its big reveals for the coming year, and it's going to be a busy one. It all starts with the 2023 Honda HR-V, shown in the renderings above. The company didn't share a whole lot of details since it was focusing on the broad product plans, but it did note that it will be "unique to North America." It's not clear if it's just styling, which is abundantly obvious compared to the European HR-V and Japanese Vezel shown below, or if it will have a different platform and powertrains. We suspect the latter, since looking at the renderings, not only does it have a meaner, more aggressive look, but the glass in the greenhouse is different, as are the door handles. The HR-V is only the start of the big product rollout. More SUVs follow starting with the new CR-V, and then the new Pilot. A new Accord is coming, and of course there's the imminent Civic Type R. Acura's rollout is a bit more modest, with the big launches being the new Integra and the Type-S version of the MDX. Honda HR-V / Vezel View 11 Photos Plug-in hybrids aren't part of the plan There's one thing that Honda isn't including in its plans, and that's plug-in hybrids. When asked why, American Honda's executive Vice President of National Operations Dave Gardner noted that public and governmental feelings have moved from just reducing emissions to eliminating them entirely. As such, the time and effort to develop plug-in hybrids doesn't make sense when that could be applied to fully electric cars. Conventional, non-plug-in hybrids are still planned, and Honda is expecting ever increasing hybrid sales in the next few years. The company is expecting half of Accord sales will eventually be hybrid. As for Acura, hybrids aren't planned to be a big part of sales, with the brand jumping straight to EVs. Speaking of EVs, Honda's first North American electric car is still planned to be the Prologue. It's the electric model that's going to be based on a General Motors product. It's slated for the 2024 model year, and Honda is anticipating around 70,000 annual sales for it to start. Acura will get a counterpart to the Prologue, which may be named ADX. Related video:

The new Acura Integra was never meant to be a retro car

The new Acura Integra Prototype was never supposed to be a retro or nostalgic design process. It would be easy to assume it was, as Acura’s messaging leading up to the big reveal leaned heavily on the Integra nameplate's heritage. From the model name embossed in the bumpers, to videos of shifting the older modelÂ’s manual transmissions, Acura yanked fairly hard on our heartstrings. And then the cover came off last week, and while there are very subtle cues hinting at old Integras here and there, the new car doesnÂ’t look much like the old ones at all. Unlike designers of the new retro-tastic Nissan Z and Ford Bronco, Acura decided to create something altogether new and different. “So, admittedly, when we started planning this car, it was never to create a retro Integra,” Acura product planner, Jonathan Rivers, told Autoblog. “We actually looked at it from the viewpoint of say, if the Integra had never left the lineup, how would it have evolved? How would it have changed over the years? We think this is the result of that.” There was never going to be a two-door coupe model, because as Rivers points out to us, coupes just don't sell these days. However, sportbacks are popular — just look at the sheer number of them coming from Germany these days — and it suits the customers Acura is trying to capture with the Integra. “The target customer is a millennial with an active lifestyle, so they need space for their gear but they also want to have a great car to hit the canyon roads with every now and then,” Rivers says. “Once again, over the generations, the Integra is just that.” For any naysayers throwing their hands up about the Integra seemingly being a fancy Civic, we possess two points of refutation. One, thatÂ’s exactly what the Integra has always been. It was literally badged and sold as a Honda in many other countries, and its bones have always been Civic-based. ThatÂ’s the IntegraÂ’s history, and while Acura doesnÂ’t officially come out and say so, itÂ’s most certainly the same today. On the design front, maybe you think the photos make it look a little too close to the new 11th-gen Civic Hatchback? Well, pictures on the internet donÂ’t always tell the full story of a car design. “None of the sheetmetal is shared with either the four-door or the five-door Civic,” Rivers explains.

Acura ILX Hybrid discontinued for 2015

Earlier today, Acura issued a press release detailing its entry-level 2015 ILX range, but something was missing. Honda's luxury arm listed all of the information about the naturally aspirated 2.0-liter and 2.4-liter ILX models, but nothing was said about the Hybrid - a model that, when we reviewed it in 2013, left us utterly cold. But now we know why: Acura has confirmed to Autoblog that the ILX Hybrid will be discontinued for the 2015 model year.
The company issued the following statement to us regarding the hybrid's demise:
The 2015 ILX remains a standout choice in the entry premium segment with its combination of performance, luxury, refinement and value and is the top-selling luxury vehicle to younger buyers. Based on the stronger appeal of the ILX 2.0 and 2.4 models, we are streamlining the ILX lineup to better align with customer demand, Acura will no longer offer the ILX Hybrid starting with the 2015 model year.