LOS ANGELES – Acura's 201X RDX crossover, calling it the epitome of its revived Precision Crafted Performance brand promise, has taken off surprisingly, attracting younger buyers with its A-Spec upholstery, capturing more European luxury brands and new customers have brought Acura dealers.
With the redesign launched in June, the RDX recorded its sixth monthly monthly sales record last month, while supplies for the year outperformed 2017 by 22 percent.
A home flight
While other Acura vehicles received a number of styling updates, such as the new grille design, the RDX was the first Acura to be completely redesigned as the brand embraced performance as a styling, engineering and marketing feature.
It has been a home flight, says Acura General Manager Jon Ikeda. And Acura is looking for more of them with the rest of his line-up, including his three sedans. Although sales of sedan have declined, Ikeda says that consumers can expect Acura's car set-up to receive the same treatment as the RDX.
The RDX transformation gave Acura a chance to implement a new interface for its infotainment center, the True Touchpad. Instead of a touch screen on the center console, users can open functions on a certain part of the screen, for example in the upper right corner by tapping on the corresponding part of the touchpad that is mounted just behind the gearshift buttons.
Ikeda said that Acura was aware of the risks that brands encounter when attempting to be revolutionary with their infotainment systems. Ford's quality rankings have been hampered for years by the maligned MyFord Touch offer.
But "you have to try it," he said.
"We have performance … we have design," Ikeda Automotive News told the Los Angeles Auto Show. "Technology is the third piece when it comes to the premium segment, those are the three pieces of emotion [where] you must get a buy-in so that people pay the kind of money they are willing to pay. "
Focus on core models
While Brother Honda noticed a new middle class crossover in Los Angeles, Ikeda said that Acura is not going to expand its lineup with more crossovers, choosing to concentrate on getting the core models right. .
In Asia Acura sells a subcompact crossover, the CDX, that shares a platform with the Honda HR-V. But an Acura spokesperson said that the RDX can penetrate into that smaller segment with its pricing and influence the consumer with its added space. The RDX starts at $ 38,295, including shipping for the model with the front wheelbase.
The A-Spec trim of the RDX now attracts younger buyers. According to the brand, 45 percent of A-Spec buyers are younger than 45, compared to 23 percent for other equipment levels.
"We have a very efficient setup," Ikeda said. "That is our approach, we are disciplined that way."
"We see 70 percent SUVs when it was the other way around," said Ikeda.
"We do not know what will happen in the future," he said. "What is important is that we remain disciplined and balanced. [We’ll] do our best to drive home with our sedans. "