The History of Acura: Honda's Luxury and Performance Brand

Acura at a glance

Why Honda created Acura (1984–1986)

In the early 1980s Japanese car makers were known in America for small, economical cars, while the premium segment belonged to European brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Honda wanted its loyal buyers to move up without leaving the company. In February 1984 it confirmed a new luxury and performance division under the working title "Channel II", and in September 1984 the name Acura was announced.

The name comes from the Latin root "acu", found in words linked to accuracy and precision; reference works trace it to "acutus", meaning sharpened. The brand opened on 27 March 1986 with 60 new dealers in 18 states, three years before Toyota's Lexus and Nissan's Infiniti arrived. The story of the parent company is in the history of Honda.

Legend, Integra and the first success (1986–1989)

The first two models covered both ends of the range: the Legend executive saloon with a V6 and the Integra sporty hatchback in three- and five-door form. Acura sold 52,869 cars in 1986 and passed 100,000 in June 1987. By the end of 1986 the network had grown to 150 dealers in 36 states.

In spring 1987 the Legend coupé arrived with a 2.7-litre V6 of 120 kW (161 hp). It was the first Acura with an airbag and won Motor Trend's Import Car of the Year award. In 1987 the brand sold 109,470 cars, about 55,000 of them Legends. In 1990 Acura's US sales of 138,344 cars were roughly twice those of Lexus or BMW in America, a 1cars comparison from the published figures.

The NSX and the 1990s

In August 1990 the NSX went on sale. Known as the Honda NSX in Japan, it was a mid-engined, aluminium-bodied sports car and the most expensive Japanese car of its time. It was the first series car with titanium connecting rods, and its V6 used Honda's variable valve timing. The full story of the car is told on the Honda NSX page.

The calliper logo appeared on the 1991 models. According to a widely told story, Soichiro Honda had about 5,000 early badges destroyed because the design could be read as a stretched "H". In December 1991 the brand set an all-time record of 143,708 cars that would stand until 2000, and in 1994 it sold its one-millionth car in the United States.

The early 1990s brought harder times. The Vigor saloon arrived in 1992, but sales fell to 120,100 that year and to about 108,000 in 1993. In 1996 Acura replaced its model names with letters: the Legend became the RL and the Vigor the TL. The SLX, a rebadged Isuzu Trooper sold from 1996 to 1999, was the brand's first SUV.

SUVs and SH-AWD: the 2000s boom

The turnaround came with SUVs. The MDX, launched in January 2000, was the first luxury SUV with a standard third seat row and was named Motor Trend's Sport Utility of the Year. The RSX coupé replaced the Integra in July 2001. The TSX and a new TL with a 201 kW (270 hp) V6 followed in 2003–2004. In 2005 the RL introduced Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD), which can send more torque to the outer rear wheel in a bend.

The turbocharged Acura RDX arrived in August 2006, and a second-generation Acura MDX followed that autumn. Compared with the first year, sales in the record year of 2005 were about four times higher. The financial crisis then cut them in half: 2009 brought only 105,723 cars.

New models in the 2010s

The coupé-styled ZDX of 2009 did not sell well, but the brand rebuilt its range in the following years. The ILX, based on the Civic, went on sale in May 2012. In 2014 the TLX replaced both the TL and the TSX, and the RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD brought a three-motor hybrid system. The second-generation NSX of 2016 used a twin-turbo V6, a nine-speed dual-clutch gearbox and the Sport Hybrid SH-AWD system with electric front-axle drive.

Over these decades Acura's development and production gradually moved from Japan to the United States. Today most Acuras for North America are engineered and built there.

Acura models through the years

The table shows how the brand's centre of gravity moved. In its first decade Acura was built around saloons and coupés; since the MDX of 2000, SUVs have carried the range, while saloons have been reduced to the TLX and the Integra.

Racing: from IMSA to Le Mans prototypes

Motorsport has supported the performance image. In 1991 Comptech's Spice prototype with an NSX V6 won the IMSA Lights championship in its first season, and further titles followed in 1992 and 1993. Acura's LMP2 prototypes finished second overall on their debut at Sebring in 2007, and the ARX-02a of 2009 was the brand's first LMP1 car. The NSX GT3 began racing in 2017, the ARX-05 prototype in 2018 and the hybrid ARX-06 in 2023.

Acura today: Type S, Integra and electric cars

In the 2020s Acura revived two names. The Type S performance label returned on the TLX and MDX, and the Integra came back as a five-door liftback. The first electric Acura, the new Acura ZDX, was developed with General Motors on the Ultium platform and built from early 2024 to September 2025. In 2023 the brand stopped selling cars in China, and Honda plans to offer the Integra Type S in Japan from 2026.

Which Acura to choose

Acura's strength is a blend of Honda reliability with more equipment and sharper handling. Families should look at the MDX, which seats seven and offers SH-AWD; the most powerful SUVs ranking shows where its Type S version stands. The RDX suits buyers who want a compact premium SUV, and the Integra suits those who want a sporty, practical car with a manual gearbox option. Used buyers will find the older TL, TSX and RDX good value. Any Acura can be compared with a Lexus, BMW or Audi rival in the comparison tool.