Acura’s been hard at work in the kitchen, cooking up a new flagship sedan in the form of the RLX, but the luxury brand’s ever-popular MDX crossover has been redone practically from scratch. The chefs in the company’s engineering department just took the freshly prepared 2014 model out of the oven in Manhattan.
As 2012 comes to an end, it’s always interesting to see what vehicles were most popular on everyone’s research list for the year.
Acura has announced that it’ll be heading to the 2013 Detroit Auto Show with a prototype of its next-generation MDX SUV model.
The 2014 Acura MDX has dropped its heavy camo in the latest set of spy photos seen here, showing that the classic Acura beak will stay intact.
The 2013 Acura MDX is now available at dealerships nationwide with a starting price of $43,280 excluding a destination charge of $895. That price is a slight $250 bump over the 2012 model.
Infinti is pointing their cross hairs squarely at the Japanese luxury crossover market, hoping that their new JX will be a hot seller capable of boosting the brand, but there could be an arduous road ahead.
Their biggest competition: the Acura MDX and Lexus RX crossovers are their brand`s top sellers, meaning Infiniti will have to pick a few pockets to put the JX in their aspired sales bracket.
“It will become our second-best-seller this year, right behind [the] G [lineup],” Infiniti’s North American vice president Ben Poore said to WardsAuto in an interview.
Despite their high sales ambitions, Infiniti isn’t undercutting the competition, at least not completely. Poore said they plan to start the JX at $41,400 including the destination fee. That means it starts off cheaper than the Acura MDX’s $43,815 tag and pricier than the Lexus RX for $39,950.
As far as specifics for those ambitions are concerned, Poore didn’t name any exact sales targets. Despite that, we know the company’s best-selling G coupe and sedan sold 58,246 total units last year.
That could be a tall order given that the brands current runner-up, the QX SUV, only sold 13,428 units last year. Maybe that’s why Poore is playing coy about actual figures. His statement could suggest a relatively low sales target or a tough push against the competition.
Given that last year Lexus and Acura sold 82,595 and 123,299 RXs and MDXs respectively, it would seem to be in Infiniti’s best interests not to irk the juggernauts, but instead to siphon off a sliver of tired customers from each when it goes on sale as a 2013 model this March.
[Source: Ward's Auto via Motor Trend]
Honda will delay the launch of their next generation CR-V crossover due to continued production delays, and supplies of their 2012 Civic will also be delayed as Honda’s North American production continues to run at well below capacity amid the after effects of Japan’s natural disasters.
In a letter to Honda’s dealers, U.S. executive vice-president John Mendel said “Recovery from this crisis is difficult and constantly evolving, most notably the challenge of obtaining a few key components required to maintain production at appropriate levels. Overall production volume will be at significantly reduced levels as we continue production adjustments through the summer months.”
Honda expects full production to resume much later in the year, with the CR-V being produced at Honda’s Canadian plant in addition to its East Liberty, Ohio facility. Acura‘s MDX and RDX will also be shifted to other plants in Alabama and Ohio, but the company says that the shifts are unrelated to problems related to their parts supply.
[Source: Bloomberg]
