| |
| Headquarters |  Minato, Japan
|
| Founded | March 27, 1986 |
| Series | World Stock Car Championship |
Acura is the luxury and performance division of Honda Motor Company. The brand was launched in the United States and Canada on March 27, 1986, marketing luxury and performance automobiles. The brand is currently available in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, and Kuwait. It was formerly available in Hong Kong, Russia, and Ukraine, and has never been available to the Japanese market.
Acura is the first Japanese automotive luxury brand. In its first few years of existence, Acura was among the best-selling luxury marques in the US, outselling established brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Though sales were down in the mid-to-late 1990s, the brand experienced a revival in the early 2000s, due to drastic redesigns and the introductions of new models. In the late 1980s, the success of the company inspired fellow Japanese automakers Toyota and Nissan to launch their own luxury brands, Lexus and Infiniti, respectively. The 1990 launch of the NSX, a mid-engine exotic sports car, offered a reliable and practical alternative to exotic European sports cars, and introduced Honda's VTEC variable valve timing system to the North American market. The 1993 Legend coupé featured Acura's first use of a six-speed manual transmission mated to a Type II engine. In the late 1990s, Acura produced a Type R version of its compact Integra, which featured a reduced curb weight, a stiffer and lower suspension, and a high-output VTEC engine.
History[edit | edit source]
The brand was created as a result of voluntary export restraints for the U.S. market imposed by the Japanese government, which made it more profitable for Japanese automakers to export more expensive cars to the U.S. Following a decade of research, Honda opened 60 new dealerships in North America by 1986, to support its Acura automobile division. Acura was the first Japanese luxury brand, introduced under the slogan, "Acura. Precision Crafted Automobiles." In 1987, Acura's first full year of sales, they sold 109,000 cars with the flagship Legend sedan accounting for 55,000 sales and the rest were of the smaller Integra. By 1990, Acura was selling 138,000 vehicles, including 54,000 Legends, compared to Mercedes-Benz's 78,000 cars and 64,000 each for BMW and Lexus.
Despite a strong start in market acceptance for the Acura brand, sales suffered in the mid-to-late 1990s. Some critics attributed this decline in part to less inspiring designs, which were re-branded Japanese-spec Hondas; additionally, during this time Acura switched to an alphanumeric nomenclature formula. Many critics felt the alphanumeric designations were more anonymous than the former Legend, Vigor and Integra titles, which had grown into their own cult followings. Despite these struggles, the brand has experienced a resurgence since the early 2000's, thanks to a design philosophy that offers numerous luxury options as standard equipment and strikes a balance between sport and luxury.
Racing History[edit | edit source]
Almost since its inception, Acura has been involved in American motorsports, specifically in endurance and touring car racing. The marque would win class championships from 1991 through 1993, and won the 24 Hours of Daytona twice in that span. A change in endurance racing's rule set meant a move to touring car racing, specifically the USTCA. They would again win class titles in three out of four years (1997, 1998, 2000) and finished second in 1999.
The brand returned to endurance racing in 2007, and has run various classes since its return. In 2017 it returned to the prototype class, and currently run both Daytona Prototype and GT Daytona entries.