Honda Acura prepares for a revamped image

Honda is reportedly shifting its luxury brand Acura’s base to the U.S. The Japanese car maker is shifting the entire process of Acura, consisting of the vehicles’ design, engineering and production to the United Sates’ Ohio plant.

The new Honda 2014 MDX crossover car, which will be hitting the market in July, 2013 is the first Acura vehicle to be completely developed by Honda’s Ohio tech centre. The MDX platform is also expected to be used for the next Honda Pilot SUV model.

The senior vice president of automotive operations of Honda and Acura, Mike Accavitti says that “Acura as a brand is very heavily NAFTA-focused,”. For a very long time the Acura brand was meant only for the U.S. as well as the Canadian car markets. The same vehicles had the Honda badges replacing the Acura logo on them in the rest of the globe.

However, Honda has figured out that its Acura brand must be much more than simply a name, as the brand will now make appearance in the markets of China, Brazil, Russia and the Middle East. And Honda’s U.S. operations now have the opportunity to mould Acura’s new future.

The MDX was designed at Acura’s studio in Torrance, Calif. Honda strengthened Acura’s particular American identity when the company decided to build the all new NSX exotic sports car in the Ohio plant.

According to the experts of the auto world, the Acura brand cars also give the convenience of very spacious interiors to the consumers along with great fuel efficiency, high quality and performance. However, all these qualities have made way for the car brand to have premium pricing or fame in order to compete with the top level of luxury car makers.

The major problem according to few experts that is hindering the Acura to gain prestige as a premium luxury car is its lack of proper styling and design language. The Acura cars are really competent and performance oriented apart from providing all great features that a car needs to click in the market, but they simply don’t look that good or even capable. Acura is rather a very sober looking competition to the bold and brazen models such as the Mercedes CLA or the Audi A7.

The 2014 MDX is on the other hand, will be a surely profitable descendent to Acura’s best-selling model. However, the Ohio manufactured NSX hybrid supercar might be the key to a long term success. The launch of the NSX hybrid supercar could really alter people’s perception of the Honda brand, as the other hybrid rivals will be exorbitantly priced. The company is also anxiously waiting for the arrival of the NSX, as its more affordable pricing could change the future of the brand.

The NSX hybrid supercar is the successor to the renowned NSX that marked the presence of Acura back in the 1990s. Acura is expected to be working on a package of three electric engines, a turbocharged V6, all-wheel drive option, and high fuel economy to boost its brand power.