Acura

The first luxury division started by a Japanese carmaker was Acura. In addition to the already existing Honda Verno and Honda Primo, the JDM Honda dealership sales channel known as Honda Clio, which offered premium cars, was launched at the same time as Acura. In its first few years of existence, Acura was among the best-selling luxury marques in the US, outselling established names such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Despite declining sales in the mid- to late 1990s, the brand had a resurgence in the early 2000s as a result of radical redesigns and the launch of new models.

Late in the 1980s, Toyota and Nissan, two other Japanese manufacturers, were inspired by the Legend's popularity to develop their own luxury brands, Lexus and Infiniti, respectively. When Honda's mid-engine exotic sports vehicle, the NSX, was debuted to the North American market in 1990, it provided a dependable and useful alternative to expensive exotic sports cars from Europe. The Type II engine and six-speed manual transmission were paired for the first time in an Acura vehicle—the 1993 Legend coupé. Acura created a Type R variant of their little Integra in the late 1990s. It had a high-output VTEC engine, a stronger and lower suspension, and a lower curb weight.

Early in the new millennium, Acura unveiled many new models, including the MDX, the company's first entirely original SUV, and the RSX and TSX, which respectively replaced the Integra coupé and sedan. During that decade, the RSX, CL, and TL Type-S models were added to the brand's range. The torque-vectoring all-wheel drive system SH-AWD was first included in Acura's 2005 RL flagship model. The first Honda turbocharged engine to be used in North America was installed in the crossover SUV RDX in 2007. The second version of the NSX was introduced in 2016, and it has a Sport Hybrid SH-AWD, a nine-speed dual-clutch transmission, and a twin-turbocharged mid-engine.


Acura.com: Premium Sedans and SUVs
https://www.acura.com