2007 Acura Mdx Awd Sport Utility 4-door 3.7l White Loaded No Reserve on 2040-cars

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Acura aiming for Chinese production by 2016

Not wanting to be left out of the emerging luxury car bonanza in China, Automotive News is reporting that Acura could begin producing vehicles in the Asian country by 2016. Like Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, Acura will reportedly build vehicles in China using a local partner - Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. in Acura's case - while Cadillac and Infiniti will build their own vehicles locally.
Guangzhou already produces Honda models in China, but the article says that the first Acura produced in that country could be a new compact model based on the Acura SUV-X Concept (shown above), a showcar revealed in April at the Shanghai Motor Show. China's luxury car market is expected to grow to 2.7 million units a year by the end of this decade, which would put it on pace to make it the largest premium car market in the world.

Junkyard Gem: 1997 Acura SLX

By the second half of the 1990s, the tremendous sales success of the Ford Explorer (introduced as a 1991 model) and Jeep Grand Cherokee (introduced as a 1993 model) had made it clear clear that the future of the American road would be trucks. Any automotive manufacturer not selling a full line of SUV-ish machinery here would be irrelevant soon after the dawn of the new century, and the car-and-bike-centric American Honda Motor Company was therefore in big trouble. The Civic could be used as the basis for a small crossover SUV (which debuted here as the 1997 Honda CR-V), but Honda needed to buy time to design and produce the platform that would underpin the 2001 Acura MDX and 2003 Honda Pilot. That time was purchased via a deal to sell rebadged Isuzu trucks as Hondas and Acuras. Today's Junkyard Gem is one of those Honda-ized Isuzus, found in a Colorado boneyard. Honda began selling the Isuzu Rodeo as the Passport (recycling the name they'd used on the U.S.-market Super Cub motorcycle) for the 1994 model year, and Acura dealers started moving SLX-badged Isuzu Troopers in the 1997 model year. Just to make things interesting in the Isuzu-Honda world, North American Isuzu dealers sold Honda Odysseys with Isuzu Oasis badges at the same time. Isuzu had gone all-truck for the American market after the last Styluses (and closely related Geo Storms) were sold here as 1993 models. Sadly, Isuzu's final (non-commercial) new vehicles sold here were rebadged Chevy Trailblazers and Colorados, more than 30 years after Chevrolet began selling Isuzu Faster pickups here with LUV badges. Honda never did build any body-on-frame trucks, but that proved unnecessary in order to make some money during the CUV/SUV era. The SLX never sold particularly well, but it gave Acura dealers a luxury truck to park next to the Integras, TLs, RLs, CLs and NSXs in their showrooms. After 1999, the SLX was gone, leaving just the 2000 model year as a blank spot for Acura-badged SUVs. This truck held together like a real Honda product, getting fairly close to the 300,000-mile mark (I've found junkyard Accords with better than a half-million miles on their odometers, plus one apiece Civic and CR-V that got past 400,000 miles during their lives). The original owner's manuals were still in the glovebox when I found this truck. At the end, it appears that it was towed away for being parked illegally. Maybe the engine or transmission failed and its final owner just walked away.

LoveFab headed back to Pikes Peak with NSX-based heathen [w/video]

LoveFab had a rough run at Pikes Peak 2012. During qualifying on Day Two, owner and professional driver Cody Loveland launched his car off of the course at nearly 60 miles per hour. Never ones to be dismayed by a few bruised ribs and some busted body panels, LoveFab is headed back to the hill climb for 2013, and this year, it's bringing Garrett along as a title sponsor.
Loveland's chariot of choice is officially dubbed "Turbo by Garrett/LoveFab Pikes Peak Enviate" and is loosely based on an Acura NSX. All of the stock Japanese components have been swapped for LoveFab-built pieces with the exception of the subframes and suspension.
With a dry-sump LS1 V8, chromoly-tube chassis and a full carbon fiber body, the car is about as wild as they come. With around 800 pound-feet of torque on hand and a curb weight of under 2,000 pounds, the machine should give the mountain a run for its money. The team is expected to begin testing Enviate beginning May 1. You can check out a quick interview with Loveland in the video below along with the full press release.