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Honda and Acura electric crossovers will be built by General Motors

General Motors will partially offset the cost of developing electric technology by manufacturing battery-powered cars for Honda and Acura, according to an unverified report. Ultium battery technology is at the center of the deal. Without citing sources, industry trade journal Automotive News wrote that Honda has agreed to enlist rival-turned-partner General Motors as one of its EV suppliers during the first half of the 2020s. The factory that currently builds Chevrolet's Blazer and Equinox in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, will begin manufacturing a Honda crossover in 2023, meaning it likely won't arrive until the 2024 model year. On the other side of the border, the former Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, will churn out an Acura crossover beginning in 2024, about two years after it starts making the Cadillac Lyriq. Neither model has been revealed, and Honda hasn't commented on the report. Insiders familiar with the contents of the firm's product pipeline told Automotive News that both crossovers will be about as big as the Lyriq (pictured), which will be close in size to the 190-inch long XT5. Power for the two models will come from the Ultium battery technology that General Motors is developing for over a dozen electric cars, including the GMC Hummer and a Chevrolet-badged pickup we might discover next week during CES 2021. Both EVs will be built by General Motors, and they'll be powered by General Motors-developed technology (some will even receive OnStar and the hands-free Super Cruise driver assistance system), but everything motorists see and touch will be Honda- or Acura-specific. We're not expecting that the tie-up will spawn a pair of blandly badge-engineered crossovers; stylists will likely give each one its own design identity inside and out. Honda had previously confirmed plans to build at least two electric models on General Motors bones, and it announced that its American partner would also handle manufacturing, but this is the first time executives are throwing Acura onto the stage. What remains to be seen — assuming the report is accurate — is whether the Lyriq will compete directly against its Acura-branded sister model, or if they'll be positioned in different segments. Related video: Featured Gallery Cadillac Lyriq show car Green Acura Honda Electric

This is why Acura hasn't yet announced its EV strategy

Despite parent company Honda's green and friendly brand image, luxury marque Acura hasn't made a grand statement about electrifying their lineup. Even as brands like Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley, and Infiniti pledge to entirely electrify their lineups in the coming decade, Acura has held back. The reason, according to Acura head honcho Jon Ikeda, is that it's focusing on reestablishing itself as a performance brand. In a wide-ranging interview with Automotive News, Ikeda says Acura came out of the gate strong in 1986 and did well for the first 20 years, but when the bottom fell out of the market in 2008 the brand experienced "growing pains." That spawned a period of self-reflection and, as Ikeda puts it, "What are we about?" The decision was made to go back to Acura's roots as the performance division of Honda. "That's what Acura is. That's what I fell in love with," Ikeda says. Ikeda joined Honda in 1989, but his promotion to Acura boss in 2015 was a surprise to many, including himself. That's because Honda had a tradition of putting engineers at the helm, and Ikeda was a designer, responsible for the looks of such cars as the FSX concept, 2001 Civic Coupe, and beloved 2004 Acura TL. 2021 Acura TLX Advance View 38 Photos When asked by AN whether Acura is worried that luxury competitors are putting stakes in the ground to claim EV brand identities, Ikeda says no. "For us as a brand, we needed to kind of refocus and reestablish ourselves as a performance brand... We want everybody to understand where we are, what we're about first. Even if we go electric we will continue to be a performance division of Honda and performance will be our focus." To earn its performance street cred, Acura poured resources into the second-gen NSX hybrid supercar, which served as testbed for how electricity can work harmoniously with performance. They will continue to campaign IMSA race cars to earn trophies as proof, and Ikeda also wants to bring more Type S models to the lineup. Ikeda says Acura is still in the process of rebuilding its foundation, but when he's done he expects people to associate Acura with performance. That sure seems ambitious to us, but products like the new TLX are a helpful stepping stone. It also explains why Acura is investing in different platforms to differentiate itself from Honda. To be clear, Ikeda isn't ruling out electrification.

Honda insiders push for Acura NSX Type R sans hybrid tech

With 500 horsepower on tap from a sophisticated hybrid powertrain, there's plenty to love about the new Acura NSX. If the more performance-oriented elements within the Japanese automaker get their way, it could get even better. Speaking with one of the NSX project's chief engineers Nick Robinson at the launch of the new supercar, Autocar reports that there's an effort underway to develop an NSX Type R. Following a much-loved formula, the more extreme variant would pack even more power than the existing version, unburdened by excess weight. A big part of the targeted weight savings would come from ditching some of the heavier components from the hybrid system. The electric motor at the rear could stay to serve as alternator, starter motor, and flywheel. But the electric motors at the front would go, helping to shed a few hundred pounds. Throw in some lightweight materials and we'd be looking at a considerable weight reduction. It could even integrate some active aerodynamic elements that were excluded from the NSX on the road to production. Though the project may still be a ways off from getting the green light, but Robinson and some of his colleagues are working on prototypes ostensibly to make the case. He and his brother James (a powertrain engineer at Honda) will be driving a pair of NSXs at Pikes Peak this year – one that's as close to showroom stock as the regulations will allow, but the other will be closer to what they have in mind for a Type R. It'll ditch the hybrid system and put an electric compressor in its place to eliminate any turbo lag and produce even more power than the existing model. Now if they can only get the go-ahead from the higher-ups at Honda. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2014 Honda NSX Concept-GT News Source: Autocar Green Acura Honda Coupe Hybrid Performance Supercars honda nsx acura nsx type r