Acura’s assistant vice president of national sales, Emile Korkor, is moving to embrace electric cars at a faster pace than Honda parent company, Emile Korkor, the brand’s assistant vice president of national sales brand, said in a recent interview with Automotive News (requires registration).
The premium Acura brand is “going much faster” than the mainstream Honda brand in having electric vehicles account for an increasingly larger share of sales, Korkor said.
The percentage of sales is the key factor here, because Acura is a higher-priced, lower-volume brand than its parent brand. Honda is planning to sell 70,000 annually for Power intersection opening. For Acura, a brand with a lower volume, that means a larger share of sales, but not necessarily a higher number, for Acura.
2022 Acura MDX WORLD
It’s also important to note that, while Korkor says the Acura is made with hybrids, they’ve remained an important part of the brand’s strategy until recently.
Acura has tried to build a performance image around the NSX supercar, which uses a complex hybrid powertrain in its second-generation form. Acura previously offered the MDX and RLX Sport hybrid to take advantage of the NSX’s halo effect, but dropped those, while the NSX departs after the 2022 model year.
Acura’s first EV is supposed to be built in Tennessee at a former Saturn plant, with Cadillac Lyriq. Acura EV will use the General Motors platform, as part of a partnership between the two automakers that will allow them to rapidly achieve economies of scale in electric vehicles and share the development of other technologies — including the driver-assistance version of GM’s Super Cruise system for Honda.
2016 Acura RLX Sport Hybrid
Honda recently announced a target of 40% of electric and fuel cell vehicle sales by 2030, and get rid of the internal combustion engine in its North American lineup by 2040. It’s a big turnaround from Honda’s recent bearish attitude towards electric vehicles in North America.
The car manufacturer has chosen not to bring the compact car Honda E to the US and stop offering an EV to the North American market—clear electricity-last year. That still leaves the Clarity plug-in hybrid and fuel cell versions, along with some hybrids, but no battery electric vehicles.
