A Few Months Ago: Acura's Next Generation Integra and Their Current Strategy

The Acura Integra name holds a special place in the hearts of many car enthusiasts. A few months ago, Acura unveiled the next generation Integra, a follow-up to one of the most legendary tuner cars of all time.

As the large door slams closed and reverberates, it's clear that people have been saying a lot about the new Integra. However, the conversation has mostly centered around the car itself, rather than Acura as a whole. So, what's going on at Acura? To answer this question, we need to explore the company's current strategy for staying relevant.

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Now, my goal today is to give Acura a fair shake; their day in court, if you will. Full disclosure, we've worked for Acura in the past, but I'm not going to let that skew what I've got to say. I hope they see this video and take all of your comments to heart, because at the end of the day, people care so much about the Integra name because they want to see it succeed.

If no one had any opinion at all, that would actually be the worst-case scenario for Acura. So, let's talk Teggy. The most popular criticism of the new Integra is that it just doesn't look like an Integra. And if I'm being honest, that's something I agree with. But there's gotta be a reason Acura did that.

In MotorTrend's discussion on the matter, one possible explanation for this design choice could provide some insight into Acura's strategy. However, without further information, it's difficult to say for certain what led to this decision.

For now, let's just say that it's clear people care about what Acura is doing, and they want to see the Integra succeed.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- A few months ago, Acura unveiledthe next generation Integra, a followupto one of the most legendarytuner cars of all time.The Integra name means somuch to so many people.A few of my favorite videoswe've made on this channelare all about the Integra.So what did people think of the new one?(large door slams closed and reverberates)Oo, yikes, a lot has beensaid about the new Integra,but not about Acura, as a whole.So today we're going to explorethe company's currentstrategy for staying relevantand answer once and for all,what's going on at Acura?- Big thanks to Keeps forsponsoring today's video.- We've all welcomed in the new year,so why not welcome in the new you,with the help of Keeps?- Two out of three guyswill experience hair lossby the time they're 35.So you, don't have to be one of them.- Keeps is a subscription servicethat helps men keep their hairwith clinically-proven,research-backed treatments.- Whether you're lookingto prevent hair loss,- stimulate growth,- or just take better care of that mane,Keeps connects you toreal doctors, online,to help select the rightproducts and treatmentsfor your hair goals.- All without ever visitingan office, or pharmacy.Remember,(speaking in unison)- Hair loss stops with Keeps.- To get 50% off your first ordergo to keeps.com/wheelhouse50or click the link inthe description below.- Get everything your hair needsdelivered straight, to your front door.(makes a zipper noise)- Oh, my God. My hair. (laughs)(soft chimes play)- My goal today is togive Acura a fair shake;their day in court, if you will.And, full disclosure,we've worked for Acura in the past.We've taken their money,but I'm not going to let thatskew what I've got to say.I hope they see this video,and take all of your comments to heart,because, at the end of the day,people care so much about the Integra namebecause they want to see it succeed.If no one had any opinion at all,that would actually be theworst case scenario for Acura.So let's talk Teggy.The most popular criticismof the new Integra,is that it just doesn'tlook like an Integra.And if I'm being honest,that's something I agree with.But there's gotta be areason Acura did that?In a MotorTrend's "FirstLook" at the Integra,Acura senior product planner,John River said, quote,"We started with a blank sheet.We never wanted to do a retro car.We didn't necessarilywant to recreate the past,but we wanted to createsomething in the light that,if the Integra had never went away,how would it have evolved into the lineup?And we think this is it."And to give Acura some credit here,I think in that context, they nailed it.The Integra was canned in the U S in 2001.Introduced in 1985, the sporty sedan wasa more luxurious and stylish takeon a Honda civic platform.The third generationTeggy is probably the onepeople are referring towhen they see the new one,doesn't look like the old one.And it's pretty sick.The Integra was replacedby the new RSX in 2002,which was later discontinued in 2006.America didn't see anotherAcura sports compact until 2012,with the introduction of the ILX.It should be mentioned, all of these cars,were all luxurious, stylish takeson the Honda civicand should all be considered Integras,in spirit at least.In fact, the only reason theRSX wasn't called an Integra,was because Acura changedtheir naming systemfrom real names like Integra and Legend,to RSX and RL, respectively.But over in Japan, the RSX wasjust the fourth gen Integra,but the Integra is just onepiece of the Acura puzzle.What's the car's role, inAcura's grand strategy?Acura was the first Japaneseluxury brand on American soil,beating their biggestrival Lexus by three years.The value proposition for Acura was thatthey could match the Germansand material and build quality,but undercut them on price,thanks to Japan's overpowered economythat was fueled by some mild inflation.And for a while, the plan really worked.At the brands launch, the flagship Legendand sprightly Integra were very impressiveand caught the Germans totally off guard.Then came the NSX,the mid-engine supercarthat sent Italian supercarmakers into a tailspin.In just five years, thebrand went from nothingto having every manufacturerin the luxury segmentscratching their heads.Now, sure.Maybe that's not super surprising,considering Acura wasHonda's fancy lab baby.But the brand's earlyand considerable successwas very impressive, and profitable.Should we look at a graph?Actually, don't answer that.I spent way too much timelooking at Acura sales numberscompared to the competitors,for you to say no,plus it tells the story.In Acura's first year,they sold almost as many cars as Audi.Then in 1987, they sold alot more cars than Audi,and BMW, and Mercedes, it's amazing.You can see on the graphthat as soon as Acura went on the market,the German luxury brandsstarted to fall off.Every time we talk aboutJapanese luxury brands on this channel,I feel like I have to bring up thevoluntary export restraintthat the U S Governmentrequested of Japan in 1981.This limited the number ofcars Japan could import,which incentivized them to come upwith more expensive modelsto make up the lost revenue.But this wasn't the only reasonHonda came up with the Acura idea.The development of the Legendactually predates the Acura brand.Now that Honda had this(beep) luxury sedan,they weren't sure if buyers in the U Sliked Honda enough tospend more money on it,than a comparable Accord.Honda U S also worried that Honda dealerswould promote the Legend so muchthat it would take sales awayfrom the cheaper, bestselling Accord.Those three factors are whatled to the creation of Acura:a new name and organizationsidestepped the potential issues,and as we know from the graph, it worked.For about 10 years.Like it or not,the new Integra is anessential, fundamental,even integral piece of Acurastrategy going forward.But why do they need it today,if things started outso good for the company?As we can see from my amazing graph,the eight ladies and early ninetieswere a great time for Acura.By 1995, Acura added anew car to the lineup.The bigger, midsize sedan,the Legend was in its secondgeneration with a coupe option,And the Integra was inits most iconic form.But, unfortunately, theirsuccess had some unintendedand longstanding consequences.The German brands got their butt in gearand developed someseriously kick ass new cars.In 1995, BMW released theE39 five series platform,and Mercedes was right next to themwith the new W210 E-Class.And man, I haven't evenmentioned Lexus yet.The LS 400 was a revelation.The industry reaction toAcura's arrival and successcreated some really, really good cars,and, ironically, Acura salesstarted to reflect that.In 1997 BMW and Mercedes sales in the U Ssurpassed Acura for thefirst time in 10 years.The next year Lexus passed Acura,giving them the momentum they neededto climb to the top ofthe luxury market in 2003.Despite being beaten insales, by Lexus, BMW,and Mercedes, for the rest of the 2000's,that didn't stop Acura fromproducing some great cars.The decade was kicked offwith the Integra Type-R.The Integra was then replacedby the aforementioned RSX.Then there was a TL Type-S,which on the outsidedoes not look particularly ravishing,but these things have avery dedicated following.Everyone I know who'shad a TL has loved it,and the Type-S was the one to have.Type-S was Acura's performance line.While the previous Type-R designationswere reserved for super-stiff,street-legal race cars,like the Integra and the NSX Type-R,Type-S was for peoplewho wanted a sporty ride,but didn't want their spinerearranged on the way to work.But the Type-S badge wasn't justan appearance packagewith tweaked suspension.In the mid 2000's thesecars usually offereda substantial powerupgrade over lower trims.The TL Type-S gained 35horsepower with its larger,3.2 J series V6.And the RSX Type-S gainedaround 40. That's a lot.In the mid 2000's, Hondaprobably realized that theyweren't going to catchLexus, BMW, and Mercedesin sales numbers, so maybethat's what inspired themto build these Type-S cars.They probably knew their audiencewas someone lookingfor a nice car that wasdesigned well, and wouldn'tbe a maintenance nightmare.Like their competitors, Acurawas on a strong, upward climbin the years leading upto the 2008 market crash.If you look at the graph,you can see that the luxurymarket pretty much got backto where they were supposed to behad the crash not happened.Everyone, except Acura. Iblame this, on the beak.The beak is, in my opinion,one of the biggest stylingblunders in automotive history.In just one year, the TLwent from looking like this,to this.Acura, what were you thinking?The beak grill was presenton Acura's entire lineup:TL, TSX, and RDX, they all hadthat big honker in the front.It was like, you're driving Satler's face.I was 16 in 2009. I had terrible taste.I thought this was appropriate attireto post on the internet.But even I knew thatAcura's new look, was bad.While sales were gaining momentumin the years of the great recession,I truly believe the beak is to blamefor the middling positionAcura finds itself in today.It wasn't just ugly.It was a sign that Acura didn'tknow what it was anymore.The designs might've had a lot of edges,but they lacked the youthfuledge of the early 2000's.In cars like the RSX Type-S.Instead of standing out,Acura started to blend in the background.There were a placeholderin the monochromaticluxury scene of the 2010's.When you think about it, that's pretty sadconsidering the brand's explosivesuccess in the early days.But don't feel too bad though,because for some reasonthey stuck with the beak,in one form or another, until 2016.What are we even doinghere, guys? Come on.So, where does that leave the brand today?Well, Acura finally gotrid of the beak in 2017,following the releaseof the second gen NSX,another car that madea ton of drama online,mind you, and the sales numbers,well, they leveled out.If it wasn't for the freaking pandemic,I think Acura could havemade back some lost ground.But even in 2019,the brand knew they hada lot of work to do.Look, they're not stupid.They had access to the same numbers I do,way better numbers, probably.The only luxury brand theywere beating was Infinity.So in August of 2019,Acura gave us a glimpseof the brand's immediatefuture with the Type-S concept.This sedan concept is honestly stunning.It has presence,it's aggressive withoutbeing over-the-top,in the press release for the concept,accurate explains whythey built it, quote,"Representing a fundamental step forwardfulfilling Acura's return toprecision crafted performance,which started with the debutof the second-generation NSX."The Type-S concept, setsthe stage for re-introducingType-S performance variants,to the Acura lineup after a decade hiatus,and will heavily influencethe character of the upcomingsecond generation TLX Type-S.And hey, they weren't lying.The production TLX Type-S on sale today,looks pretty muchidentical; good looking car.The MDX SUV and NSX supercarare both available in Type-S trim.What does that mean? Isit just a marketing ploy?We've talked aboutbadges that don't meananything on the show before,but fortunately Acura is doingtheir due diligence here.The TLX Type-S, is morethan a second faster to 60than the base TLX, at around five seconds,depending on who you ask.At the time of this recording,the RDX Type-S hasn't been tested yet.But I'm willing to betthat it's faster than the base as well.The NSX Type-S boastsa bigger hybrid batteryfor more power, to thethree electric motors.And the V6 is now outfittedwith the turbos from theinsta-champion GT3 car,the result of 600 combined horsepower.Can I get a clip?(engine smoothly revving)Hell yeah.Acura knows they lost theirway with the beak era cars.They're not afraid to admit it either.In an interview with MotorTrend,Acura vice-presidentJon Ikeda says, quote,"We went through some growing pains.We knew, out of the box,what we wanted to be.We were performance driven.We're supposed to be premium,but when Lexus and others got in the game,there was a lot of discussion ofwhat is luxury, or what is premium.We went through a stintwhere we got concerned.Are we doing the right thing?Is this the right thing for business?We're reorientingourselves to our heritage,what we're working on, it'snot a brand new philosophy.It's basically going back to the roots.For four years, we've refocusedon what our image is all about.Performance."Acura is betting big that the Type-S badgewill bring people back to the brand.That identity that theywere looking for for so longwas right in front of theirfaces this whole time.And I'm truly glad they'vedecided to lean back into thattuner identity we associateso strongly with the brand.So, what's Integra's role in all this?It's likely that thebase Integra will sellfor around $30,000, with a Type-Sadding a premium on top of that.Now that's not exactly cheap,but it's cheap for an Acura.The Integra was alwaystheir entry-level carsfor younger buyers.Acura is hoping that theycan reel in people like us,because once you buy an Acura,you're pretty likely to buy another one.Time will tell if thisrenewed performance philosophyworks out for Acura.Reviews of the TLX Type-Sare mostly positive.So that's a good sign.I think it's pretty safe to saythat there will be an Integra Type-S,and if reactions to the newCivic Si are any indication,I think it will be prettydamn good to drive,even if it doesn't reallylook, like an Integra.- Inside yourcar, there was a creak,unlike anything you ever heard before.But be warned, it canbe quite, temperamental.(laughs)Always run an intercooler.Do not use low-octane dyno-juice.And the most important thing,beware, the thief thatlurks within the boost.Donutmedia presents,the new, hair-raising,boost green shirtavailable right now @donutmedia.comfor just $29.98.Really that's cheaper, that'sso much cheaper, than $30.- Thank you very much forwatching this episode.I learned a lot about Acuraas I was researching it.And, you know, we hadthat Acura from Free Ridehere at the office for a while,and I was able to drivethat before we filmed that.And after I drove it andexperienced Vtech and all that,it was like, oh,I get why people love theIntegra, for one, so much,and, two, Acura, so much.And I'm really looking forward togetting behind the wheel ofthe new Integra, when I can.Acura's had their struggles for sure.And I hope it works out for them.Follow us on social media @donutmedia.Follow me @nolanjsykes, if you'd like.Be kind. I'll see you next time.