Ford Steals An Eventful Detroit Auto Show

In a world where it is becoming next to impossible to keep a good secret, most brands have given up trying and often reveal their auto show gems as early as a month ahead of schedule. With that in mind the power of a true surprise has grown exponentially, especially if that surprise is a poster worthy supercar. The Acura NSX was supposed to be the supercar star of the NAIAS but then the Ford GT concept happened. There have been rumors of a GT resurgence and but nothing could quite prepare for a supercar more than worthy of an exotic badge. It's the Asterion that Lamborghini wished it could have debuted in Paris. The fact that the first shots of the GT came directly from the floor made this reveal that more exciting. Aside from the simple Lotus Evoraesque interior and a poor take on a racing steering wheel, the GT looks to challenge the very best much like the original GT40 did in the 1960s and a decade ago. Bucking most trends again Ford quotes as on sale date of 2016. The GT also gives credence that Chevy will finally make a mid engine "Corvette" after all those years. Following the no teaser route Ford rounded out its tremendous Monday with a worthy second generation Ford Raptor powered by a preview of the GT's EcoBoost and topped it all of with a track special Mustang GT350R complete with carbon fiber wheels from the factory. Likely a first for a car you can pronounce or hope to see. The only demerit was Ford's lack of actual horsepower numbers but others (Acura, Toyota) are just as guilty.

 

Running The Numbers On The Acura NSX

The Acura NSX was likely going to be the most anticipated debut at the quickly approaching North American International Auto Show and with the cat out of the bag on the Cadillac CTS-V and the Audi Q7, Detroit is Acura's playground. We are only a few weeks away from seeing the final product and hearing the specs for the first time but many months away from actual performance tests making now as good a time as any to run some numbers on Acura's upcoming supercar contender, virtually. Going from a front mounted V10 concept nearly a decade ago, the second generation returns with a more authentic mid engine layout but with twin-turbos for the V6 and electric motors giving all wheel drive capability. The brand new, and seemingly unrelated to any current Honda V6, twin-turbo V6 is rumored to be around 3.7 liters in displacement. Similar sized powertrains make anything from 500 to a shade over 600 horsepower in various performance applications. Given Honda's history with turbo engines and a potential desire to reach some MPG targets with the hybrid powertrain it is hard to see a heavily boosted engine so something around 525 horsepower out of the V6 is a good basis. Nothing wrong with getting more than less here though. The RLX hybrid setup is good for an additional 67 horsepower towards peak output so when all is said and done a number of 600 combined horsepower seems very logical. Seeing the inherent weight penalty on the RLX hybrid with this setup it is hard to see the NSX dipping much below 3,750 pounds. Given the all wheel drive grip and the electric motor torque the NSX should be as quick as anything not purely exotic off the line to 60. Figure a time of 3.2 seconds or even slightly better to 60 and anything over 3.5 seconds would be a pretty big disappointment. The NSX should lose some momentum as speeds pick up going through the 1/4 mile in around 11.5 seconds with a trap speed of about 125 miles per hour placing it right in the middle of some very established competition. Competition due for replacement or thorough updates around the same time frame. It is game on for Acura and only time will tell if the newest NSX can ultimately deliver what promises to be 458 Italia performance for Audi R8 price and how it will play with the Z06, GT-R and 911s of the world.

Acura Follows Mitsubishi Off The Beaten Path

Mitsubishi is a brand so forgotten that no one will even notice that we practically swiped their commercial, this had to be the thinking in the ad agency war room that created Acura's "The Clear Path Commercial" for the MDX.  That or perhaps it's an incredible coincidence as there is a chance that the MDX commercial was created before the Outlander ad came out but released later. Or the same agency did both ads. Regardless, both ads feature a CUV stuck in traffic making a sharp 90 degree turn and escaping the ordinary life of bumper to bumper for a road much more open and scenic. Notice the way both ads focus on the steering wheel to symbolize the departure. Of course, there is a huge difference as the Outlander turns left and the MDX turns right. Aside from that both have the CUVs "finding your own lane" and "beating the beaten path" thanks to their advanced technology.

Acura Aims to Atone For Past Missteps with the TLX

With the news that Honda is letting Acura run its business more or less on its own, the soon-to-debut TLX is tasked to lead a brand resurgence. The 2004-2008 TL was Acura's most successful product since the Legend thanks to its well proportioned, clean yet purposeful styling. Looking to solidify the TL as a luxury product Acura gave it more tech, more size and more styling features. Unfortunately that's where everything fell apart for the TL. Lauded for its trick super handling all wheel drive system the TL was mechanically a superior machine but its heavy and overdone styling doomed it from the start. A subsequent refresh and a tone down of the "beak" front end was too little and too late to make much of an impact. As with the RLX, Acura is hoping that a new name will give the model a fresh start along with a design that ditches the awkwardness of the current version and brings back some of the sporty styling of the previous generation. The TLX has recently been spotted sans camo and the final product has stayed remarkably true to its Detroit concept. Almost by default the TLX will be Acura's best designed sedan even if there is a little bit too much ILX in the profile. For a brand that has done so well with its crossovers recently, the TLX will be a pivotal product for Acura to reestablish its footing with the rest of its lineup considering it will be pulling double duty replacing both the TL and TSX.

The TLX Concept looks great, the production version is close

May 2012 Sales Recap

With supplies issues essentially behind them Toyota and Honda were able to post incredible sales increases compared to their May 2011 figures and even surpassing 2010 figures by a significant margin as well. Elsewhere the Chrysler Group continued its strong sales increase of the past year with surging sales at Chrysler itself, Jeep, and Ram brand. On the luxury side Lexus and Acura followed their parent brands with sales returning to previous levels while Mercedes achieved a nearly 20% sales improvement over last year. Overall May 2012 versus May 2011 sales were robust whichever way you look at it with only a couple of brands declining over a year ago. Of note was the Chevy Volt's strong month of 1,680 sales compared to the LEAF's showing of 510.

Of course as good as May was some were clearly expecting a little more perhaps indicating a possible slowing down in June or perhaps just a desire run an article about missing expectations while nearly doubling your sales.

Acura Surprises With Great RDX Commercials

Fresh of its great Superbowl ad for the NSX, Acura is of to a good start with its initial marketing strategy for the RDX. Breaking away from its past doldrums of commercials which featured various Acuras in a hangar (looks like Hangar One) with your typical voice over touting Acura's standard Bluetooth or navigation. With the RDX Acura is venturing outside for some cloudy sunlight, waves, and sand in its Gulliver inspired "Chariot" commercial. The RDX is big and powerful like Guliver yet nimble and compact like the Lilliputians, and of course Luxurious. The funny and light tone of the commercial is a great change from the over the top technological approach of the "hangar ads" A second ad, "Car Wash" continues with Gulliver enjoying his time in Lilliput (nice touch is a map of Lilliput in the navigation) perhaps too much.





A third unrelated commercial finds the RDX dodging all sorts of road hazards as if on the set of the new Avengers movie. While not as cool of a concept as the other two ads, the RDX Avengers ad is much better than all of the other Avengers related ads combined.

More from New York

This year's New York Autoshow is playing out quite well with a good amount of new introductions. Here are some highlights from day one including the new Viper, Acura RLX concept and the new Lexus ES.

The Dodge SRT Viper returns with a look reminiscent of the second generation and racy front end design that some are calling what the Ferrari F12 should have looked like. The 8.4 liter V10 is up to 640 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque while composite body panels shave weight. More power and less weight is always a great combination and best of all the Viper is returning to American Le Mans racing competition this year as well.

The Acura RLX foreshadows how a top of the line Acura sedan will look when it goes on sale later this year. The production version should look very similar as the recent ILX concept was an accurate depiction of the real ILX. The RL replacement doesn't address all of its predecessor's shortcomings but attempts to solve some. Design-wise the concept design gives a hint of the Subaru Legacy from the profile and the new Lexus GS in the roofline. The most exciting part of the concept is the all wheel drive hybrid setup (preview of what the NSX will have) that Acura says is good for 370 horsepower and 30 mpg in the city and highway. One electric motor is placed before the transmission while two electric motors provide torque vectoring of the rear wheels which promises some great handling prospects.

This angle reminds of a Subaru Legacy

And the roofline is a lot like on the new GS

The spy shots of the Lexus that circulated the web a while back didn't put the new ES in the best light but from the looks of things the ES is going to do alright with a design that aside from the forced new corporate grille is very pleasing to the eye.

Acura tries its hand at a flagship once again

Acura is a unique brand in the luxury arena as it has never offered a V8 for sale in its cars even with Acura and Honda racing programs successfully running high performance V8s for years. For years Acura has attempted to create a true flagship without V8 power with mixed results. The Legend was wildly successful as the first Japanese luxury vehicle sold in America even with a V6 powering the front wheels. However its replacement the RL has never had the same success and the last generation RL spent the last few years having trouble clearing double digit monthly sales, in fact it was outsold by the Audi R8 last year. When the latest RL came out it was greeted with praise from the automotive precess that was not reciprocated by the consumer which found the RL offering little benefits against its cheaper TL sibling. The RL is negligibly larger than the TL and uses the same powertrain.

In two days Acura will once again attempt to challenge Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes with its new flagship rumored to be called the RLX. Acura promises that the RL replacement will have the interior space of the 7 series while having more nimble handling like that of the 5 series. Once again Acura will not offer a V6 option. However, this time around Acura's refusal to use a V8 shouldn't hurt as much as fuel economy concerns have forced its competition to offer V6 engines as well. Acura also believes that its trick hybrid all wheel drive system with two motors on the rear axle will give performance equivalent to a V8. Such a set up should be good for around 400 combined horsepower with claimed 4 cylinder fuel economy. Hopefully Acura delivers on this promise better than Lexus did with its V8 hybrid that promised V12 performance with V6 fuel economy while delivering V8 performance with V8 fuel economy.

It appears that the latest RLX should return some of the Legend's former glory in the luxury arena, some would prefer the name to make a comeback as well, but it is still tough to see the RLX matching up with the A8, 7 series, LS and S class. On the other hand the RLX should be a much better competitor to the A6, 5 series, GS and E class which are mostly sold with six cylinder engines as well nowadays.

V6 only for Acura's flagship

Super Bowl XLVI Auto Commercials Ranked

As a game Superbowl XLVI turned out to be pretty good thanks to the last four minutes even if it was close yet quite average for most of the previous three quarters and change. Of course the actual game does not define a Super Bowl as some actually claim to watch the game for the commercials only.  As a whole this year's batch of commercials appeared to have less lolz than last year's edition. Nevertheless the automotive industry not only ran the most ads but also managed to have some of the best ads on Super Sunday. Here is my top five:

1. Chevy: Happy Grad

A high school graduate goes wild when he sees that his parent bought him a new Camaro convertible as a graduation present until we see that they actually didn't. This ad is simple yet very funny.



2. Acura: NSX

Great commercial overall, the only problem is that the NSX is very far from production but the commercial still works brilliantly.



3. Chevy: Chevy Silverado

The predicted 2012 Apocalypse comes true, somewhat, and Silverados are still driving around while F-150s are not. A pretty good commercial overall and one that got Ford all riled up and apparently helped Ford sell more F-150s than it did Silverados.



4. Fiat: 500 Abarth Seduction

Fiat has been under fire by the critics for lower than promised sales and an ad campaign that has left much to be desired. A simpler commercial might just be what Fiat needs and this one delivers.



5. Volkwagen:  The Dog Strikes Back

Volkswagen essentially had the best ad last year and unfortunately the sequel is not as good this time around but the two part commercial still takes fifth.

November Sales Recap: Chrysler Coming Back

Overall auto industry sales were up once again in November, this time to the tune of 14% compared to a year ago. At the top was Chrysler benefiting greatly with the Chrysler 200 outselling its predecessor the Sebring by a significant margin, 456% to be exact. All in all Chrysler managed a 92% increase in sales. Chrysler group's Jeep and Dodge brands did well as well with improvements of 50 and 43% respectively. Coming in first in the luxury category with a surprise 47.2% improvement was Mercedes, the newly updated C class sedan and coupe along with the new M class propelled the brand to the number one spot in luxury sales for the month. Sales of the new Passat helped Volkswagen post an over 40% sales increase as well. Like in most other months of this year Honda along with its luxury division Acura saw its sales fall once again. On the other hand Toyota and Lexus were able to turn the tide and post a sales increase for the month.

Looking at Luxury Brands Selling Prices

There is always a lot of talk about which luxury brand is the best, which luxury brand sells the most, and which brands even deserve to be called luxury altogether. To clear up some of these questions let's take a look at the average selling prices of the biggest eleven brands that claim to sell luxury cars in the United States. While the manufacturers do not release their average transaction prices in the way that they do with overall sales figures here is our best attempt to see who gets the most for their cars on average. At the top is Mercedes-Benz with an average asking price of around 55,000 per vehicle. Mercedes has by far the most models available for sale in the 75,000+ range. Second is BMW which is able to average a little over 50,000 per every vehicle sold. BMW falls behind Mercedes by offering fewer models over 100,000. Up third is Cadillac that benefits greatly by moving a significant amount of its pricey Escalades every month. Following Cadillac is Audi that sells its models for comparable prices as Mercedes and BMW but moves fewer A6 models compared to the competition. Up next is Infiniti that charges around 45,000 on average followed closely by Lexus that loses ground because of a significant amount of ES sales. Lincoln is able to average a little over 40,000 thanks to Town Car and Navigator sales. Right around the 40,000 dollar cutoff Acura suffers by not having a true flagship sedan or having a coupe or convertible version of the TSX. Opening up the premium category Volvo lacks serious firepower without a V8 in its lineup. Second to last Buick is a great example of selling vehicles at a premium but not luxury prices. Bringing up the rear is Chrysler with a majority of its sales comprised by the 200 and the Town&Country minivan.

*The data represented below is an attempt to find out the average selling prices of the luxury brands based on their product mix. The figures are averaged based on sales, thus a brand selling more flagship sedans versus entry level models has a higher average price than a brand selling mostly entry level models. Because of lack of sales figures BMW's M lineup and Mercedes's AMG models were not factored in, thus those brands likely have slightly higher transaction prices than indicated here.