About a year ago Honda ’s Acura luxury brand announced that it planned to rival the likes of Maybach and Bentley in the coming years, but it looks as though the Japanese brand will first set its sights on more mainstream luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW .
In an interview with Automotive News, Dan Bonawitz, vice president for corporate planning and logistics at American Honda Motor Co., revealed that Acura will be expanding its lineup to better compete with the German luxury brands.
The first new nameplate will bow in 2010 – just before the all-new Acura NSX makes its debut – but it remains unclear exactly what type of car the new model will be. However, Acura has indicated that it is interested in reviving a car for the premium coupe segment – which was last filled by the company’s CL in 2003 – and John Watts, Acura’s product planning manager, told Automotive News last year that the automaker was looking to produce niche vehicles. Therefore industry experts predict the new car will be a 2+2 coupe in the $50,000 range, with a hard top convertible variation likely.
Whatever the case, Honda executives say Acura’s lineup expansion will push the marque to become a “tier 1 luxury brand.” That should be some encouraging news to Acura dealers as sales are down nearly 15 percent this year.
