Current model shown
Acura’s replacement for the aged RL will greet the public in April at the New York auto show. The model is desperately needed for the brand, which has struggled on the periphery of the luxury world since its birth as the first upscale Japanese nameplate 25 years ago.
The next flagship sedan—the company’s trepidation at calling it the RL gives us naive hope it’ll be named the Legend—is meant to embody the brand’s identity. A rendering we saw looked a lot like a bloated TL. So, uh, what exactly is the Acura brand identity?
According to the company’s execs, the flagship sedan will be relatively lightweight, nimble, and economical. It also will feature Honda’s new hybrid Super Handling All-Wheel Drive system, which uses a V-6 to power the front wheels and two electric motors for the rears. (You can read more about how the system works, and our drive of a car with a prototype of the system, here.)
Acura says that creating a spacious interior was a very high priority. As opposed to the new Honda Civic–based ILX, which will be pitched to younger buyers, the flagship sedan is meant to appeal to slightly older customers. As such, Acura’s engineers and designers focused on creating a car that would comfortably take a second couple out to dinner, and has a large-enough trunk to handle larger parcels. A product planner says that interior space will be comparable to that of a BMW 7-series, even though the vehicle’s exterior dimensions will be more like a 5er’s.
The flagship will sit atop a three-sedan product line. Currently, the company offers the TSX, the TL, and the RL. With the addition of the ILX and the confirmation of a replacement for the RL, that makes it likely that either the TSX or TL is on the chopping block. An alternative scenario sees the RL name dying off, with the new flagship wearing TL badging. In that case, the TSX—which is derived from the European Honda Accord—could hang around, with the ILX serving as a gateway to the brand.
The latter approach makes a little more sense—TL and TSX are arguably the most recognizable names in the Acura car family—but it strikes us as a little confusing. The ILX is being introduced as a low-cost entryway to the Acura brand; wasn’t that the point of the TSX when it originally launched? The first-gen car, having been bred to compete with the Ford Mondeo and lesser BMW 3-series models in Europe, was a precise handler and perfectly sized. Had this generation of TSX/Euro Accord not grown, there wouldn’t be a need for something smaller. But it did grow—into something a bit disappointing.
The TL has succeeded as Acura’s mainstay sedan for more than a decade in spite of having a forgettable alphanumeric name. It really is the modern-day Legend, and it seems like a mistake to cancel one of your better-known products. But it’s large, quite powerful, and offers all-wheel drive; with the new, bigger flagship on the way, what’s the point of keeping it?
In explaining the too-close positioning of the present-day RL and TL, an Acura product planner told us, “We made the same mistake twice.” (The first being the overlap of the Vigor and Legend in the 1990s.) Let’s hope the current sedan restructuring isn’t a third time.
