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Acura built just 91 examples of the ILX last month, here's why

The short life of the Acura ILX has been vexed by one glaringly odd standard equipment choice, mediocre reviews, getting outsold by its competition as it posted slower-than-projected sales and a pledge by Honda to upgrade its supposedly upgraded offering. Therefore, when Automotive News reports that just 91 of the Civic-based Acura sedans were manufactured last month - after a string of production months in double-digits - it would be easy to press the button for the alarm bells.
But that would be hasty, because it is actually the 2013 Honda Civic that is crimping the production pipeline of the ILX. The vastly higher sales numbers of the Honda meant that all three North American plants that produce it needed to crank up output to satisfy dealer inventory needs, including the Greenburg, Indiana plant that makes both the Civic and the ILX. As the classic guns-vs-butter Economy 101 lesson taught us - in which making more of one necessarily means making less of the other - well, the Civic is the gun.
Honda prepared for this eventuality by cranking out the Acuras while it got ready for Civic production. The ILX has held steady at about 500 units shy of company projections every month, and the current inventory represents about 90 days worth of sales. That makes Greenburg's ostensibly low numbers in line with the realities of the ILX, and the situation probably won't change much as Acura gets ready for the improved 2014 ILX.

2020 Acura TLX PMC Edition will be hand-built alongside the NSX

At next week's 2019 New York International Auto Show, Acura will reveal a pair of new models, the 2020 TLX PMC Edition and MDX PMC Edition Prototype. The duo will be limited-run models that get final assembly at Honda's Performance Manufacturing Center (PMC) in Marysville, Ohio, along the same production line as the Acura NSX. The TLX PMC Edition goes on sale this summer with a starting price of around $50,000. Production will be limited to just 360 models hand-assembled over a six-month period. The production version of the MDX PMC Edition will be built sometime after the TLX PMC run is complete. Think of the TLX PMC as an A-Spec performance model with features available with the Advance Package like a surround-view camera, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel and power folding mirrors. Currently, the two packages are mutually exclusive. There are no performance upgrades beyond what the A-Spec already offers. Power from the 290-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 is sent to all-four wheels through a nine-speed automatic. The TLX PMC uses Acura's Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) to manage the power at each wheel. It also gets the A-Spec's stiffer dampers and quicker steering ratio. 2020 Acura TLX PMC Edition View 11 Photos The exterior design, too, is based on the TLX A-Spec, with a restyled front bumper, dark chrome trim, larger exhaust tips and a black spoiler. Likewise, the interior is based on the A-Spec trim, with heated and ventilated front sport seats, leather and Alcantara seating, a black leather steering wheel, a black headliner, a red instrument cluster and red accent lighting. Black 19-inch 10-spoke wheels and Valencia Red Pearl paint are exclusive to the TLX PMC. The paint uses mica, metal flake and super-high transparency nano pigments to give it a richer color and was previously only available on the NSX. The roof panel, door handles, grille and lower bumper are also gloss black. What makes the TLX PMC Edition (as well as the future MDX PMC) truly special is the hand assembly. Basically, the body-in-white (a basic unfinished unibody) will move from the main assembly plant in Marysville to the nearby Performance Manufacturing Center. There, workers will install the drivetrain, suspension, wiring harnesses and electronics. The car then goes to the paint booth before the interior is installed.

Acura RLX pricing and launch plan detailed

Acura has released pricing for its upcoming flagship, the RLX, at the Detroit Auto Show this week. Powered by an all-new direct-injected 3.5-liter V6 rated at 310 horsepower, the front-wheel-drive sedan replaces the outgoing RL model (2011's worst-selling car of the year) as the automaker's new flagship.
In addition to boasting the most spacious passenger cabin in its mid-luxury class, the new range-topping Acura features the automaker's first-ever application of Precision All-Wheel Steer and Jewel Eye LED headlamps. Standard equipment includes Lane Departure Warning and Forward Collision Warning, with Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with Low-Speed Follow, and Blind Spot Information (BSI) system trim and option specific.
The four-door will initially be sold in five grades (prices exclude a destination charge of $895):