The dealership I bought my NSX from back in 2016 keeps me on their mailing list
This evening I received a message stating the ZDX has arrived
After clicking the available inventory button, I started scrolling through the pictures of one
The final picture was of the door sticker which states MFD by General Motors LLC, ugh

 

I know it's built on the GM Ultium platform but I'm amazed to hear that GM actually builds the vehicle. Kind of makes sense - lest capex for Honda to build it and we know it's not going to sell well (EVs are suffering badly right now) so it'll be cheaper for them to pull the plug later.

That's my very negative view of this vehicle. It's not special enough to sell at the price they're asking. Total waste of development dollars.

 

An acquaintance who is a car guy (track, etc.) test drove a ZDX. He said the base was plain transportation, but he was impressed with the "Type S" version.

I think it looks nice and fills a little niche Honda/Acura needs at this time. That said, I don't think it'll sell that well (without hella discounts) and I'd never buy one.

 

It was about 15 years ago now that we saw the bean counters take over at Honda and Toyota. Since then we saw "fun" cars largely killed off, a truly subpar Civic come and go, the BMW in substance Supra, and now a GM in substance ZDX. Yet we do see glimmers of hope like the $46k GZ Corolla.

Did I miss anything?

On topic though, will people who like the Acura brand and know nothing about cars will buy this as an EV? Unlike cars like the Supra, the target audience is not "car people" but "appliance people", so maybe it will be more successful. In terms of Acura sales at least.

 

I dunno, feel like the tide is turning at least a little bit. Toyota seems to be making a concerted effort in reconnecting with all enthusiats, I mean they went from Rav4 Prime being their fastest vehicle to having three GR models all with manuals, with the lastest one being all done in house. Rumor mill seems to suggest more in the works, ala MR2, maybe a Celica (fingers crossed for a GR86 based coupe with one of the Toyota turbo engines), and of course their trucks/off roaders. Toyota showrooms suddenly look very interesting and cool again. Side note, is it me or is the general populace starting to think the Camry is cool now? It's weird man, starting to see more current Camrys at shows now and people look genuinely interested and having fun with them. Anyway, Toyota seems to be getting their groove back somewhat.

Honda on the other hand, yeah I agree with you, the bean counters have taken over. There's still some of that good DNA that occasionally shows up, but you can tell it's more exception than culture within the company. I've been criticial of the CTR for the most part, but can't deny that it's a great car and a very well received one at that. Which you would then think would lead to something awesome to resurrance the hallowed Integra Type R nameplate, but nope. ITS for as good as it may be just misses the mark, namely for being expensive, and for me, being built in the US. The new Prelude is a huge yawn.

I don't really think it's the lack of demand that has killed off the affordable enthusiast cars, which the JDMs dominated, as much as enthusiasts abusing their cars and all the bad publicity/warranty claims that come with it. On the one hand the OEMs want to build enthusiast cars, I imagine the people working in the companies want them too, passion projects are always great for companies especially if it turns a profit. But then you get these idiot owners who want to be first on social media with one, say they broke it in properly, but then go through a set of tires within a 100 miles after the break in, and then of course sell it very soon thereafter.

 

My LC500 still exists, not cheap but very, very fun

 

I mean, I think the Supra is brilliant. Would I have preferred it come with a Toyota developed I6? Sure, but they don't have one. And the BMW unit is one of the best I6's ever made. I quite like the Supra (since it got a manual) and it's been a sales success (at least as measured against the stated sales goals by Toyota at the onset). Could better things be on the horizon? Yes, if we're lucky (with the political climate and economy). Or things could get much worse and 20 years from now we'll pine over cars like this as we're forced to ride around in soap bar shaped soulless EV pods.

Also the GRC Core starts at $37k, and the CE is still less than $46k (thankfully dealer markup is gone, or at least easily avoidable).

 

I don’t think that could be further than the truth. Why build an enthusiast car which makes less $ per unit sold when you can make 3 different square ass mainstream CUV’s which each yield more $ per unit sold? Demand is the driving force. Most people have gone mainstream and live pretty square lives. Commute to work. Go out to dinner. Watch the flat panel and play on phones. That’s their entire life in a nutshell. Why would they even need an enthusiast vehicle? Most enthusiast vehicles are bought for show, image, or bragging rights. It’ll never see a corner in anger or a road circuit. I mean if you are honest, people are more into having a bunch of room, that they may use only 1-2 times per year, and much more interested in whatever screen it has on the inside. For f-sakes, they put WiFi hot spots in many vehicles today. iLife > IRL. Around here, a good % of the drivers are either looking down at the phone, having in their hand half ass paying attention the road in front of them. And every one of them you see egress their vehicle, their 6” glass pacifier is in their hand. #phonelife > everything else.

 

Well, let's see.

Why would they build an enthusiast car vs profitable units? Branding, you need to build exciting, aspirational vehicle to then make their bread and butter models more desirable. Why? Because fashion/trends are fleeting, and if you rest on your laurels you can quickly be undesirable soon enough. Especially these days, it does not take much for the winds to shift from being a hero to a zero. For example, Gatorade was absolutely untouchable... and then a couple of kids from Ohio decided to challenge that and now every little leaguer kid will only drink Prime. Toyota realizes this and has made a concerted effort into changing this perception. Honda doesn't need to because their perceived to be a sensible, economical vehicle, so their bland cars fit that demo, but Acura?

Correct, most people are the sheeple you describe, hence there is a business case and opportunity that strongly suggests the demand is there. The used market is strong indicator of what demand looks like, people are paying new car money for a zenki S14 240sx which blows my mind. Looking back into history, the vast majority of sports cars that were sold, across all generations, never saw the track, etc, people haven't really changed, people have always been in keeping up with the Joneses and flexing. The fashion and methods of signaling have changed, but the motivating factors haven't. In the golden era of JDM enthusiasts, let's not forget the majority of our sports cars relied on a neutered, automatic versions to justify sales (NA versions of the Supra, 300ZX, 3000GT, V6 mustang/camaro, etc). And people always wanted all the bells and whistles, hence why top tier sports cars of the past had Bose stereos, adjustable equalizers, etc, it's just that there is more options available; rest assured, if large iPads with AA/AC, streaming video, etc were available, peopel would've absolutely bought it no matter the generation/era. Heck, I remember people back in the 90s shelling out big money for the Alpine head units just because it had animations while it played CDs. Or remember the remote controls? What was the point of having that.

So people really haven't changed, they've always been the sheeple you described. The difference now is cars are no longer built from the factory with a ton of headroom and being overbuilt, the tradeoff is that cars come from the OEMs with far more capability than before. In the past, you could take your 276hp JDM car and mod it to 400, 450 and be somewhat reliable, the difference now is that cars already come with over 300hp, with tighter emissions. It was much easier in the past to deny claims, because it was usually easy to spot and also you didn't have social media to worry about. These days, easier to reverse (sorta), but more importantly, very easy to change the narrative on social media.

Don't get me wrong, the OEMs sorta did this to themselves, they got too caught up with magazine racing that they didn't realize the practical issues they created. For instance, if all modern sports cars were stuck on 17" 245 width all season tires, with smaller brakes, softer suspensions, and detuned engines, odds are a person could track a stock car and generally be reliable. But then you start putting on borderline R compound tires, with 300+ widths, 6 piston brakes, track suspension, etc etc, well yeah now the cars are far more capable, which creates far more stress, etc etc and things are more likely to break like overheating, oil starvation, etc.

Anyway, there is demand, to the point people are buying sporty Camrys, the OEMs just haven't figured out how to cash in on it. My theory is that they need to stop selling wolves, but rather sell wolves in sheep clothing, meaning, give us the raw materials, detune it for practical daily use, and those who want the performance will modify it to the way they want. Warranty claims get reduced, cars are more affordable, etc etc.

 

yup- its a joint venture with GM. Apparently Honda did the layout design, GM provided switchgear. There's another OEM also involved.

Honda and GM has a previous relationship with the Saturn SUV and Honda equivalent. Both used the Honda V6 of the day.

darcy