THE AUTOEXTREMIST

November 10, 2010

That’s all you got, Mr. Ito?

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 11/10, 8:00 a.m.) Detroit. It’s no secret that the Acura brand here in the U.S. has seen fleeting moments of glory over the years punctuated by long periods of abject mediocrity. Acura has been about high performance at times – with its NSX sports car showcasing Honda Motor Co.’s engineering philosophy perfectly – but more often than not the company has sleepwalked through model year after model year while waffling between who they want to be and where they want to go, never quite figuring it out and leaving their dealers in the lurch.

And the latest rumblings out of Tokyo seem to indicate that Acura’s perpetual state of vagueness isn’t likely to end anytime soon.

Takanobu Ito, Honda Motor’s CEO, has weighed-in with his take on what will solve Acura’s problems here in the U.S. In an interview conducted recently by Hans Griemel (through an interpreter) for Automotive News, Mr. Ito actually said the following:

“We are having a lot of discussions about Acura and which way it should be going. And what we confirmed is that the brand direction should be smart premium, not top tier… We agreed that smart premium is what we should be targeting with Acura, not the upper-segment vehicles such as Lexus or Mercedes-Benz. We must apply advanced technologies which make our vehicle more fun to drive, achieve a more comfortable drive and high environmental performance. "

Really, Mr. Ito? That’s all you got?

No talk about “being the best we can be,” no thought of re-establishing Acura’s credibility in this market after the ZDX debacle, no plan to design, engineer and build vehicles that represent the “tip of Honda’s technological spear.” No, instead, Honda’s chief says that they’re going to be smart premium, not top tier.

First of all, this whole business of aspiring to be pretty good? Not. So. Much.

Do you know how many car companies could plug their names next to that statement about “smart premium, not top tier?” Oh, only enough to represent about 85 percent of the market. That’s not a brand strategy, Mr. ito, that’s a placeholder in a deck that you guys never manage to finish.

My question, Mr. Ito, is what’s so hard about this? Why is it so difficult for you to get your arms around the concept that Acura should be a showcase for everything Honda can muster in terms of advanced technological thinking, forward-reaching design and high-performance with high-efficiency? Why is “this is where you go – as a customer – when you want Honda’s very best stuff” anathema to everyone over there? It suggests to me that you guys have not only well and truly lost your mojo, you’ve locked it away in some vault somewhere and no one can find the frickin’ key.

And no, I’m not looking for Honda to build over the top and overpriced offerings for Acura at every turn; I am, however, looking for each and every Acura model that hits the street to offer a level of distinctive driving differentiation and appeal that you just can’t get in the Honda showroom, or anywhere else for that matter.

If you’re going to compete in a segment with Acura, it doesn’t mean just showing up and being present and accounted for. It means that each and every machine should positively glow with desirable details and compelling reasons to buy. Because right now, Mr. Ito, there’s just no “want to” associated with Acura, not to mention anything resembling “gotta have.”

Here’s a clue, Mr. Ito. Build something that wows us. Go ahead and build a next-generation NSX that bristles with innovative and creative thinking while delivering high-performance with high-efficiency. Why is it that damn near every car company in the world has weighed-in with some sort of gee-whiz, advanced technological showcase – see Porsche’s 918 supercar if you need an example - and Honda is sitting on the sidelines?

Make us believe that Honda actually has a pulse instead of confirming our suspicions that Honda is lowering itself into something unrecognizable and unfathomable – akin to a mewling morass of mediocrity masquerading as a real car company – while chasing after your competition’s brand positioning at every turn because you’re totally out of ideas.

You better light the torches and mount a hard-target search into the secret vaults for that lost Honda mojo, Mr. Ito. 

Because without it, you got nothin’.

That’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.

 

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