Acura is accelerating its adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) at a faster pace than its parent company Honda, according to Emile Korkor, Assistant Vice President of National Sales for the brand. In a recent interview, Korkor mentioned that the premium brand Acura is “moving much faster” than the main Honda brand in increasing the share of electric vehicles in its sales. He added that Acura will steer clear of hybrids in the future, focusing solely on electric vehicles.
The percentage of sales is a crucial metric here, given that Acura is a lower-volume, higher-priced brand compared to its parent Honda. While Honda plans for 70,000 annual sales for its Prologue electric crossover, Acura, as a lower-volume brand, will have a higher portion of sales but not necessarily a larger quantity.
It’s worth noting that, despite Korkor stating that Acura is done with hybrids, they were a significant part of the brand’s strategy until recently. Acura attempted to build a performance image around the NSX supercar, which adopted a complex hybrid powertrain in its second-generation form. Acura previously offered the MDX and RLX Sport Hybrids to leverage the halo effect of the NSX but later discontinued them, while the NSX is set to be phased out after the 2022 model year.
Reports indicate that Acura’s first electric vehicle will be manufactured in Tennessee at a former Saturn plant, alongside the Cadillac Lyriq. The Acura EV will utilize a General Motors platform, part of a partnership between the two automakers to achieve economies of scale more rapidly for electric vehicles and share the development of other technologies, including GM’s Super Cruise driver assistance system.
Honda recently announced goals of achieving 40% EV and fuel cell vehicle sales by 2030, with a complete phase-out of internal combustion engines in its North American lineup by 2040. This marks a significant shift from Honda’s previous cautious stance on electric vehicles. The automaker chose not to bring the compact Honda E to the United States and discontinued its sole electric vehicle for the North American market, the Clarity Electric, last year. While there are still plug-in hybrid and fuel cell versions of the Clarity, along with various hybrids, the lineup currently lacks battery electric vehicles.
