Honda to phase out Acura RL and its Japanese version, the Legend

R-real L-lame car

this used be a hot car when it was released in 2004 but they added that nasty ass grille which made it become unpopular. Why discontinue something that HONDA destroyed why not make it better. this car is the flagship i dont understand why they cant fire the designer that made the beak grille lookin like a bald eagle. they canceled the long awaited NSX and now this to me not a good move.

way to cannabalize your own lineup Acura... Fire your Staff

Clearly A Mercy Killing.

The original Legend Coupe was such a great car & look they have done to it.....

If Acura keeps that bird beak front end, they may be phasing out more than the RL model.

Poor Acura. I would love to see them to finally be AT LEAST where Lexus is one day. *sighs* Too bad their parent company is their issue...

What are you talking about.......

D*mnit, nevermind. Acura is stuck with everything from Honda. Nothing unique to the brand except SH-AWD. No flagship, no true sports sedan or coupe, nothing. Need I say more?

If they would have made it somewhat attractive, it may have sold well. That 1999 styling just does not work today.

Maybe if they didn't start using the idiotic 2 & 3 letter monikers Acura would have been more successful because it's what set them apart in the luxury department. Integra, Legend, and heck if they used the "Inspire" name here that would have been better then "TL" IMHO.

Looks like acura will be history.

That was a bad rumor extrapolated from the story of phasing out the Legend in Japan along with the gas only Civic. Acura put out a press release after that blogosphere story and said it isn't true. So what does thsi actually mean? Maybe Honda will move production of the RL to America like the TL and reinvent it properly to cap off the Acura lineup and fit the US market rather than just being the Honda Legend bolted on the end of the Acura lineup. All signs seem to suggest that may be true since the ZDX is actually more money than the "flagship" sedan and the latest gen TL is now the same size and more luxury features than the RL/Legend

Urr, I hasn't been phased out?

Correct. It seems only the Legend is being phased out in Japan along with a few other Honda models. AutoBlog seemed to assume that meant the North America RL as well since it's the same car. No one else was reporting it that way but Autoblog I guess thought it was a better headline. That made Acura come out with clarification a few hours later yesteday to clarify the assumption was not true.

FYI: Here's is the original story from Reuters. We can see there's no mention of the N.A. Acura RL. Someone just assumed that part of it and it spread like wild fire.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE66E0L820100715

I drove up on a new RL on the highway and from the rear it looked really nice. Put on an aftermarket grill and the RL would be lovely. Too bad it doesn't really perform that well. Acura really dropped the ball with that car.

If Honda and Acura keep heading this way, Kia and Hyundai will surpass them soon, if haven't already. Sad, but Acura design keep getting Uglier and Uglier.

I don't care. The TL was the only Acura that everyone liked anyways. The 2002-2007 years were my favorite until they introduced the ugly beak. Since then Acura has been off the radar for me. Nothing exciting. They had their chance to step it up a notch to compete with Infiniti and Lexus but failed miserably. They certainly have the build quality but lack the marketing and design philosophy to enhance what they started with.

For that, I will view them as a much lesser brand than Infiniti, which in my opinion only has a couple stand-outs.

Lose the fugly chrome beak(laser target, state troopers love Acuras) and drop V8 or an amped up V6. Something to make people take notice.