Honda 20th Anniversary Of Luxary Brand

In March 2006, the Honda Motor Company celebrated a crucial milestone : the 20th anniversary of their luxury brand, Acura. Made to give Honda backers a luxurious make that they could be proud of, Acura has successfully expanded the firm's reach far beyond more prosaic models such as the Civic and the Accord. Today, Acura is a totally different brand than the company that was birthed in 1986. Let's take a glimpse at Acura's past, their present line up, and what the following twenty years may bring for this esteemed Japanese automaker.

Back in 1981, Honda saw an opportunity opening up for itself that no-one in Honda's HQ would have liked to lose out on: building and selling luxury automobiles to Yank customers. Mercedes and BMW were both gaining traction in the U.S. as American luxury brands Cadillac and Lincoln sputtered and lost share of the market. Honda was already receiving widespread consumer acceptance and critical acclaim for the 3 models it was then selling in the U.S, so the choice to market dearer and upscale vehicles was viewed as a powerful possibility.

When Honda management made a decision to go with the upscale brand, they did this knowing the cars would eventually have to stand except for Honda in order to command the higher costs. Simply selling up market Hondas as Acuras would not work. Instead, each car was outfitted and retuned to compete directly against the premiere top end cars of that time.

The first 2 models to be sold as Acuras were the Legend, a V6 powered sedan and coupe, and the Integra, which was essentially a 3 doorway coupe based on a Honda Civic platform. Later, the NSX 2 seat racer was brought out to fight Porsche and the Vigor sedan was introduced to fill the gap between the Integra and the Legend.

Over time, the various model names were dropped and replaced by autos with 2 or 3 letter designations. The Vigor became the TL, the Legend became the RL, and the Integra the RSX. Today, the MDX SUV, RSX sport compact, and TSX sedan, join the 3 other models to comprise this Acura line up. A slightly smaller SUV, the RDX, will be joining Acura's line up later in 2006.

The future of Acura looks bright in spite of robust worldwide competition. Although Honda jumped into the market some years before Nissan rolled out it Infiniti division and Toyota its Lexus line, Acura has trailed its Japanese competitors for more than a decade now. Some critics have said this misstep has hurt Acura, while others see it as a typical conservative Honda call to expand the Honda brand instead.

Future changes for Acura are flaky, but model changes will likely include the arrival of diesel powered vehicles and more hybrid offerings. Some car critics have suggested that Honda has the capacity of outflanking BMW and Mercedes by manufacturing super luxury sedans and sports cars. Respected Honda quality combined with European styling, luxury, and engineering have fueled Acura's success so far. An growth of this theme to even larger and/or sportier models could vault Acura forward.

Truly, Acura has helped reshape the original perception that many motorists had about the Japanese brands, by delivering autos that are high in luxury, tops in engineering, and strong in refinement. If the last twenty years have proved anything it is that fans can expect much more from Acura over the following twenty years. Kudos to the Honda Motor Company for developing a brand which has been so well received.

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