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This is why Acura hasn't yet announced its EV strategy

Despite parent company Honda's green and friendly brand image, luxury marque Acura hasn't made a grand statement about electrifying their lineup. Even as brands like Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley, and Infiniti pledge to entirely electrify their lineups in the coming decade, Acura has held back. The reason, according to Acura head honcho Jon Ikeda, is that it's focusing on reestablishing itself as a performance brand. In a wide-ranging interview with Automotive News, Ikeda says Acura came out of the gate strong in 1986 and did well for the first 20 years, but when the bottom fell out of the market in 2008 the brand experienced "growing pains." That spawned a period of self-reflection and, as Ikeda puts it, "What are we about?" The decision was made to go back to Acura's roots as the performance division of Honda. "That's what Acura is. That's what I fell in love with," Ikeda says. Ikeda joined Honda in 1989, but his promotion to Acura boss in 2015 was a surprise to many, including himself. That's because Honda had a tradition of putting engineers at the helm, and Ikeda was a designer, responsible for the looks of such cars as the FSX concept, 2001 Civic Coupe, and beloved 2004 Acura TL. 2021 Acura TLX Advance View 38 Photos When asked by AN whether Acura is worried that luxury competitors are putting stakes in the ground to claim EV brand identities, Ikeda says no. "For us as a brand, we needed to kind of refocus and reestablish ourselves as a performance brand... We want everybody to understand where we are, what we're about first. Even if we go electric we will continue to be a performance division of Honda and performance will be our focus." To earn its performance street cred, Acura poured resources into the second-gen NSX hybrid supercar, which served as testbed for how electricity can work harmoniously with performance. They will continue to campaign IMSA race cars to earn trophies as proof, and Ikeda also wants to bring more Type S models to the lineup. Ikeda says Acura is still in the process of rebuilding its foundation, but when he's done he expects people to associate Acura with performance. That sure seems ambitious to us, but products like the new TLX are a helpful stepping stone. It also explains why Acura is investing in different platforms to differentiate itself from Honda. To be clear, Ikeda isn't ruling out electrification.

2019 Quail Motorsports Gathering Mega Photo Gallery | Automotive Excellence

For the past 17 years, enthusiasts have flocked to The Quail Motorsports Gathering to see some of the hottest vehicles that automakers the world over have to offer. As you'll see below, 2019 is no different. We've collected image galleries of some of the best and most interesting vehicles that were on display at the event this year, and we've organized them in no particular order below. You'll see older vehicles rubbing fenders with brand-new models, from classic McLaren F1s to the very latest from Bugatti. Enjoy! McLaren F1s at the Quail 01-mclaren-f1-quail View 25 Photos 2020 Rezvani Beast at the Quail 01-2020-rezvani-tank-quail View 11 Photos 2020 Lexus LC Inspiration at the Quail 01-2020-lexus-lc-inspiration-quail View 9 Photos 2020 Acura NSX at the Quail 01-2020-acura-nsx-quail View 8 Photos De Tomaso P72 at the Quail 01-de-tomaso-p72-quail View 13 Photos Ferrari P80/C at the Quail 01-ferrari-p80-c-quail View 12 Photos SSC Tuatara at the Quail 01-ssc-tuatara-quail View 13 Photos Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus Baja Boot at the Quail 01-scg-baja-boot-quail View 12 Photos 2020 Drako GTE at the Quail 01-2020-drako-gte-quail View 9 Photos Acura Type S Concept at the Quail 01-acura-type-s-concept-quail View 12 Photos Pagani Huayra BC Roadster at the Quail 01-pagani-huayra-bc-roadster-quail View 15 Photos Lotus Evija at the Quail 01-lotus-evija-quail View 14 Photos Lamborghini Huracan Evo GT Celebration at the Quail 01-lamborghini-huracan-evo-gt-celebration-quail View 11 Photos Lamborghini Aventador SVJ 63 Roadster at the Quail 01-lamborghini-aventador-svj-63-roadster-quail View 16 Photos Aston Martin Valhalla at the Quail 01-aston-martin-valhalla-quail View 16 Photos Bugatti Centodieci Unveiling 01-bugatti-centodieci-quail View 17 Photos Featured Gallery Quail, A Motorsports Gathering 2019 View 38 Photos Misc. Auto Shows Acura Aston Martin Bugatti Ferrari Lamborghini Lexus Lotus Convertible Coupe Special and Limited Editions Performance Classics Sedan The Quail

2023 Acura Integra First Drive Review: Just what we wanted

AUSTIN, Texas — Getting caught up in the hype machine of retired car names pulling a Tom Brady is easy to do these days — there are so many examples to point at, and they just keep coming. The 2023 Acura Integra adds to this growing list. Expectations are high; unreasonably high if you listen to internet commenters. An entire generation grew up, got their driverÂ’s licenses and graduated high school in what weÂ’ll call the Integra Drought that began when the last Acura Integra rolled off the line for the 2001 model year. And while Acura likes to think of the 2002-2006 RSX as the “fourth generation” since it was called Integra overseas, itÂ’s meaningful that it was not called that here in the United States. You can tell how meaningful it is by observing how big of a deal Acura is treating the revival of the “Integra” name today — at this point, youÂ’ve surely seen one of its numerous advertisements. In short, it symbolizes AcuraÂ’s serious return to a small, sporty and enthusiast-focused compact car. The outgoing ILX never captured the zeitgeist of sport compacts in the 2010s, and it faded into the background of a much larger and better small luxury car scene. It wasnÂ’t an Integra, and Acura never pretended that it was.  To sort out what the new 2023 Integra is and isnÂ’t, Autoblog sent me (a longtime and current 2001 Acura Integra GS-R owner) to Austin, Texas, where I was able to drive it in the city, on wide-open Texas highways and through winding switchbacks. Unlike some new Acura models that were largely developed in the U.S., the Integra was developed in Japan. The design was handled at the Wako Studio outside of Tokyo, engineering work was done in Tochigi. Meanwhile, production is exclusively taking place in Marysville, Ohio, on the same line as the TLX. Many of those involved in the development of the new Integra also worked on previous generations of the car, so you can trust that Acura/Honda developed the new one with its history being top-of-mind. Just like Integras of the past, everything starts with the Civic. It shares a 107.7-inch wheelbase with the Civic, as both cars ride on the companyÂ’s Global Small Car Architecture. However, donÂ’t think that the Integra is just a Civic Hatchback with an Acura badge on it. Every single body panel on the car is 100% exclusive to the Integra, and the carÂ’s overall length and width are larger than any Civic — itÂ’s 6.8 inches longer than the Civic Hatchback and 1.8 inches longer than the Sedan.