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Acura previews Daytona prototype racer

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will get yet another competitor in the Daytona Prototype class. Acura and Team Penske will enter the series in January at the Rolex 24 at Daytona with its own car called the ARX-05. The name stands for Acura Racing Experimental, which we know means it should be called ARE, but let's be honest, "X" is a way cooler letter. The car's full reveal comes on Aug. 18, but the company released a teaser image, as well as a video, seen below, that talks about the car. The video actually reveals quite a bit of the car. It is covered in camouflage, but just the black-and-white vinyl wrap kind. It's also in bright daylight. Possibly the most distinctive part of the car's design is the wing shape that stretches across the top of the nose. It also has very aggressive-looking canards on the front corners. It doesn't look nearly as beautiful as the Mazda car, but if it's effective, who cares? The video also reveals that the engine in the ARX is based on the V6 from the TLX and MDX. When the car enters the IMSA series in January, it will be competing against Cadillac, Mazda, Nissan, and race car builders such as Oreca and Dallara. Acura will be the second company to use a V6 in the series after Nissan. Mazda uses a turbocharged four-cylinder, and Cadillac and the race car builders use V8s. Related Video: News Source: Acura, IMSA Acura Coupe Racing Vehicles

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.

Acura introduces a sleeker self-driving test car

As we creep ever closer to an autonomous-car future, one thing is for certain, most of the driverless cars we see being tested look hideous thanks to all the sensors strapped to the roof. Today Acura introduced its second generation Automated Acura RLX Development Vehicle with updated sensors and a more pleasing aesthetic. Gone is the spinning LIDAR system replaced with a more compact and robust version of the light detection and ranging technology. It's also got updated RADAR, camera, GPS and higher performance GPUs and CPUs as well as what Acura is calling "more intelligent software algorithms to support more complex testing scenarios." Acura and its parent company Honda have been testing autonomous cars at its GoMentum Station in the Bay Area since last year with a specially outfitted RLX (shown in the video above with the spinning LIDAR system). This new car will replace that vehicle. This article by Roberto Baldwin originally ran on Engadget, the definitive guide to this connected life. Green Acura Honda Transportation Alternatives Technology Emerging Technologies Autonomous Vehicles Videos Sedan transportation gear