Acura's Future

When Honda renamed Anaheim's Arrowhead Pond to the Honda Center, it did what it does with its car owners: it asked customers what they thought.

Specifically, Honda asked what patrons thought about the center’s name change. But, the company got more than what it asked for: it got comments like "now that Honda runs the center, the food will be better and the bathrooms will be cleaner."

“Holy s---,” John Mendel, who was promoted to executive vice president of automobile operations for American Honda Motor Co. this year, recalls thinking as he read the survey responses. “Now we’re being held responsible for hot dogs, beer, bathrooms and everything else.

“But,” he adds philosophically, “that’s the power of the Honda brand. You put the Honda name on something, and there’s a certain level of expectation.”

And that’s what keeps John Mendel awake at night –- protecting the Honda brands and delivering on customer expectations –- more the customer expectations of Honda and Acura car and truck owners than the quality expectations of Honda Center patrons for hot dogs and beer -– though Mendel claims they, too, have improved.

“I wake up scared every morning of the enormous responsibility I have to care for these brands –- Honda and Acura,” admits Mendel, who appears poised to take over American Honda, succeeding the Richard Colliver. “Those before me have done a phenomenal job, and I want to do even more.”

Redefining Acura

While the Honda brand, with its longer history and larger volume, clearly is his No. 1 priority, Mendel is focusing heavily on the redefinition of the Acura brand, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. While young in automotive terms, the Acura is the oldest of the Japanese luxury marques.

“Our goal is to move Acura into a Tier 1 luxury brand,” says Mendel emphatically. “We’re pretty clear about it. BMW is well established, and Acura is not, in terms of a brand image. The good news for us is we don’t have a lot of baggage.”

While in Detroit for the launch of Acura’s 2008 product line earlier this month, Mendel tried to explain to gathered journalists where Acura is headed. No two- or three-word explanation, like “The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection” or the “Ultimate Driving Machine,” suffices. Acura's current "Advance" tagline only hints.

For starters, Acura, says Mendel, is being positioned to be closer to BMW and Audi in their sporty performance, than the plusher “country club” Lexus and Mercedes. “But even within that perceptual map, there’s an area that’s even more sport and more luxury that holds an opportunity for us. You can have both. They’re not mutually exclusive,” he explains.
Future Acura models will have performance, but performance a driver can live with on a daily basis, as the NSX was a livable sports car. Mendel points to the RDX, with its first-ever turbocharged engine in an Acura, or Acura’s Super Handling All-Wheel Drive as other examples of livable performance.

In the future, performance will mean a V10 engine. It also could mean clean diesel engines for larger Acura sedans (a clean diesel already is rumored for a future Honda Accord). It could mean rear-drive architecture. Mendel doesn’t talk specifics.

“Acura brand has always been about performance and dynamics,” continues Mendel. “One of the additions now is the technology piece. But it is clearly not a technology race. It’s not about more stuff or faster Bluetooth that differentiate you. What Acura is going to be in the future is delivering a driving experience and performance across everything at a level that’s unique in the marketplace.”

Acura will have technology that is simple and easy to use, as Acura navigation systems have been from Day One. “You have to think beyond a specific technological thing and think more holistically about the man-machine interface, the integrity and feel and the driving dynamics,” says Mendel.

Mendel apologizes: “I don’t mean to get too Zen on you.”

It sounds about as mystical as Zen. Maybe it’s one of those things that we’ll get when we see it. And see it, we soon will.

2008: A Milestone Year for Acura

As 2006 was a milestone for Acura turning 20, 2008 will be a milestone year in laying out Acura’s new direction, Mendel suggests.

“For the first time in its history, we’ve got a very clear vision of what the brand is going to be when it grows up,” says Mendel. “The next three to four years are going to be absolutely critical for us to put a fine point on that.”

Mendel notes the all-new RDX and redesigned MDX tip the future direction of Acura.
“Next year at this time, you will have a pretty good idea of the direction we’re heading,” Mendel assures. “You will not see a big bang -– as if suddenly it was this and now it isn’t. Rather, you’ll start to see vehicles roll out in the 2008 calendar year with not so much styling differences but technology and philosophy differences." Mendel notes the new RDX and redesigned MDX hint at the future direction of Acura. And while Mendel won't talk about future models, it is widely known that the new TL and a new TSX will go on sale next fall as 2009 models. Little is known about them, and, as of yet, only the TL has been captured by spy photographers. Mendel would only say that as with all future Acura and Honda models, more distinction will exist between the Honda Accord, upon which the TL has been based, and the new TL. "If you like what we did with the Accord, wait till you see what we do with the TL," he said.

Acura recently opened its first U.S. design studio and now has separate R&D operations in Japan. Down the line, Acura introduces a new NSX in 2009 as a 2010 model. The car has been spotted doing laps on the Nürburgring. In addition to being more distinct from Hondas, future Acuras will emphasize performance that drivers can live with daily — features like the RDX's turbocharged engine, a future V10 engine and, possibly, clean diesels. Acura also will focus on technology, but technology that is simple and intuitive.

By far, 2008, may be a (no redesign, no refresh) Acura lineup, but it's stall for things to come.