It wasn’t just the brand recognition. When the Legend nameplate was dropped (in favor of the RL nonclementure), the car itself was transformed from an athletic, somewhat competitive 2- and 4-door near-luxury performance sedan (available with 5 and 6 speed manuals!) to something of a LS400/S-Class expy with a lackluster engine, bereft of any sporting potential. The Vigor was dropped in favor of a softened-up TL.

Ever since then, Acura’s been climbing that greased-up slope of near-luxury, not sure of how to pull people in when you’re literally sitting on the fence between luxury and performance. I bet a lot of people who wanted a Legend but found the RL instead bought themselves a nice Audi or BMW. Now Acuras have become visually repulsive as well as only semi-appealing performance-wise. Honda really doesn’t know what to do with this brand or how to take it any further. I don’t expect them to hang it up, but something has to give or someone had better come up with a good idea. Getting rid of the cartoonish grilles will be a good step in the right direction.

The Infiniti G series is literally the spiritual successor of the Legend. Nissan probably won’t fall into the same trap, since they pretty much started off with alphanumerics in the first place.

“Lincoln took it even further with the meaningless alphanumerics, and new Lincolns are Butt-ugly Ford Edsels, obese too, cartoon-like grilles, and prices of a V8 but have a V6 instead. Very appealing.. NOT!”

Lincoln is just as confused. They want to be an American Acura, but the products are pretty much Mercury-grade, just a step above the nicest Ford. This might be why Mercury’s being shoved out of the picture. It’s good for volume, but bad if you have two brands with roughly the same luxury qualities and cachet coexisting with one another. If Mercury goes, Lincoln won’t have a chance of clawing its way back to the full luxury ranks.

1. Their mothers (ie the Designers themselves) and
2. Nutty Trekkies with Spock ears.

It pains me because I am a Honda fan and owner of two Hondas, a 1990 Accord coupe 5-speed I gave to charity last year, and a Civic hatch 1991 with low limes I still keep in the summer home, but you are quite right on every point you make.

It is estimated that when Honda dropped the “Legend” brand, it lost $1,000,000,000 in name recognition-value.

Lincoln took it even further with the meaningless alphanumerics, and new Lincolns are Butt-ugly Ford Edsels, obese too, cartoon-like grilles, and prices of a V8 but have a V6 instead. Very appealing.. NOT!

Honda is the only major automaker that’s still profitable. (My statement didn’t include Hyundai, because I have no data.)

Honda really needs to do a total revamp. They should start with eliminating the bizarro Japanese cartoon styling. If your styling has to be bad to be “distinctive,” then maybe you should give up on “distinctive.” Some of the newer cars, you couldn’t give to me, just based on their appearance alone. Then they might reconsider the practice of aping the Germans’ model nomenclature. For the life of me, I can’t keep the RL and the TL and whatever else they make straight in my mind. Two years ago, I admit, I did shop the MDX. But it appeared to me as a bloated Honda Pilot, with less utility (because it wasn’t as boxy) not much more comfort and much more money. So, we bought a top of the line Pilot and we’re happy. Sure, the MDX has more ponies than the Pilot and the trick AWD system makes it more nimble than the Pilot. But when I want to drive a sportscar, there’s a Z3 sitting in my driveway. I’m not interested in some truck’s attempt to imitate it. A truck is for hauling stuff; and the Pilot does that well . . . better than the MDX.

GM and Chrysler will be all but out of business within the next 5 years, Hyundai will ovetake Toyota and Ford will be doing ok as the last American brand.

Honda needs to figure out fast what the hell they want to do with Acura besides making it Honda, except ugly and more expensive.”

Acura has lost its way. Unless it comes up with a major investment in new far better designs, it should be closed down. Either way, it will cost Honda billions.

A management decision said, cut production because our inventory is bloated.

They are unhappy because their inventory is too high, and they are unhappy because their inventory is too low.

Inventory levels are a management decision, so blaming that for a sales shortfall is like blaming themselves.

Dropping sales are a market decision, caused, in no small part, by bloated prices. Hyundai and Kia are doing fine, because they are priced closer to market.

The other makes refuse to understand that lesson. That, too, is a management decision.

But I’d like to ask what’s up with FJ? It seems like a very decent jeep. Maybe it’s too large?

I think Toyota just ran out of Yarises.

God is good. :)

Well, that is with an asterisk it seems the EPA combined rule lowered those numbers a bit. But in the end it isn’t just mileage but the overall package. Resale, reputation, warranty, perception of viability. A lot goes into a car buying decision.

Someone needs to point out the obvious and that is there is no guaranteed right to sell your product. If mighty Honda is seeing red then we know it’s not just a name plate that matters. Those Acuras are dog ugly and expensive too. Compared to just about anything they are hideous. Acuras were once recognizable as high end Honda cars with a dash more style.

Infiniti G-series up and M down is simply a case of new model/refresh for the G (now G37, pretty much the same body but a bigger engine) and a “everybody holding off for the new design next year” for the M. Of course, falling tides sink all boats, too.

I think the word’s out on the G – it’s every bit a match for the 3-series, for a LOT less money. BMW needs to watch its ass.

Up again!

I so love being right!

The NA-only Acura nameplate experiment is over. Make them Hondas, lose the ugly nose and move on.

Or make them truly competitive with Lexus, Infiniti, and (yes, I’m not kidding) Caddy.

Hell, make them competitive with Lincoln for God’s sake. Even their lineup looks better than Acura’s.

Ouch. Something needs to be done there. I mean, something. Anything. Hey Scion, want to hire me? I’ll do some restructuring. Seriously. Pay me some salary and I’ll create a youth brand. Or at least a hip brand .. of… some sort.

Or even Acura … gosh… even I will help you change your look. If you want.