LEAKED! Acura's All-New CDX Is UNMASKED! How Can Acura Build SUCH Reliable Autos, YET Their Designs Are SOOO Grille Challenged?

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. We are not against Acura or "haters."

We do have to ask after seeing the all-new MDX at the 2016 New York Auto Show (NYIAS) and the now freshly leaked CDX debuting at the Beijing Motor Show, what's up with the facades on these vehicles? First "The Beak" and now it appears that Acura is committing to whatever this new look is.

Beijing Motor Show

What's going on here?

Honda and its luxury division, Acura, build some pretty remarkable products that seem to connect with many people in the market for an all-new vehicle. But we wonder why the luxury division has been stumbling on finding an identity. Honda seems to have gotten its groove back as the all-new Civic looks fantastic and the sport-utility vehicle products, namely the HR-V and Pilot, are moving like hot cakes.

There's no question that a better look equates to better sales. And Acura's sales aren't completely in the can but they could be even greater.

That said, we have to ask: Why are their designs SOOOO front grille challenged?


Beijing Motor Show

TheSteve - 4/20/2016 8:20:56 PM

-2 Boost

A face only a mother could love, and a rear that's not much better.

I read that Acura chose to differentiate itself by focusing on tech and tech appearance. It certainly isn't working for me. Yech! Mega YECH! :-(

CarCrazedinCali - 4/20/2016 8:21:25 PM

-3 Boost

a wannabe premium CUV, wee! Looks identical to the Honda version

PUGPROUD - 4/20/2016 8:36:55 PM

-2 Boost

While I give them credit for being true to Japanese design perspective and culture it is unappealing from a North American focus. Exceptional design transcends nationality (911 Porsche, Volvo XC90, Jaguar XKE, etc) but some local tastes as this does not.

llaroo - 4/20/2016 8:53:47 PM

-3 Boost

those lights are so yesteryear too enough of the tiny repetitive lights - looks aftermarket already. Grille - speaks for itself

Acura is clueless at design. The RL, lame, the TLX boring, dashboards crapola,

wtf

bnilhome - 4/20/2016 9:05:44 PM

+8 Boost

To me this design is somewhere down the middle. It's not the best I've seen for a small SUV, but it's also not as bad as the Acura bashers on here claim. If you want to see horrific designs of SUVs, just look at what Lexus is doing with their new design direction, especially the horrendous RX. And I'm a fan of Toyota in general, but it feels like Acura and Lexus are headed in opposite directions. Acura started taking a wrong turn in 2009 when the beak was introduced, and is now making improvements in their design, while Lexus seems to be heading in the direction Acura was in back in 2009. We'll see in a couple years with changes in sales/market share which of these 2 Japanese brands made the right move.

MDarringer - 4/20/2016 10:33:01 PM

-6 Boost

Laughable.

iamdabest1 - 4/20/2016 11:13:01 PM

0 Boost

i really like the brand but this is just insane. they cant take 10 years to perfect every damn car like they did with the NSX. they need to get it together for their entire lineup.
if cadillac could have a beautiful design language after a good 20 years of trash theres still hope for acura.
This cdx will sell well because of the price point but itll still be behind an X1, qx30,gla250 and all the other little suv's.

cidflekken - 4/21/2016 4:10:09 AM

+7 Boost

Not as bad as all your gurls are screeching on about. No worse than an X1 or NX, really. BUT, if Acura has intentions on selling that in the US, they need to fix it.

And I actually think the grille, itself, is the best design element. It's the rest of the front fascia that is not complementary to it.

But, hey, at least Acura didn't hide the exhaust outlets

TomM - 4/21/2016 6:30:04 AM

+1 Boost

I note that the Lexus cars are also grill challenged too. This is probably because they are being designed in Asia - where designs are quite different from those around the rest of the world. The designers in Japan probably do not even understand why others don't like them.

I know what Acura needs - DeNysschen! At least he understands world design better than they do - and that would also free GM from him as well

Vette71 - 4/21/2016 8:45:48 AM

+1 Boost

Great idea!

skytop - 4/21/2016 8:14:44 AM

0 Boost

Acura has to do some serious head hunting for fresh talented designers if they have any hope of becoming successful again.

MDarringer - 4/21/2016 9:32:29 PM

0 Boost

They could hire Callum from Jaguar, so that Jaguar can purge him and his dull-to-ugly designs and then they can hire De Nysschen from Cadillac.

llaroo - 4/21/2016 10:41:21 AM

+11 Boost

lexus is about as nasty as they get these days. That ' transformer' aggresive angular look will date in 1 year. So, yes Acura is bad but UGLY has no limits to any brand these days.

Mazda has a bit of class with their designs at least as far as Japanese today

Truthy - 4/21/2016 11:30:03 AM

+6 Boost

I like this grill. I saw it on the Precision concept at the Chicago Auto Show and it was very good. The difference is that car was designed with this element from the beginning. Slapping a new grill onto an existing car is not always a good. I used to hate the Lexus grill, but they are getting better at integrating it into their designs. the IS coupe being the best example. Lincoln also put their new Jaguar grill onto the existing mid-size and it looks after market.

klipprand - 4/21/2016 1:10:42 PM

+1 Boost

Not terrible, not great. Glad they dropped the beak, but ... maybe they need to go back in time and look at the Legend?

kayakcar - 4/22/2016 4:44:44 PM

0 Boost

Does anyone know where the "real" Honda Motor Company is? The MDX's new design is also awful. There was a time when one could not wait to see new products from Acura. No effort here. The slow decline to irrelevance.

llaroo - 4/22/2016 6:01:28 PM

0 Boost

Look at Murano, Maxima, Lexus, now Toyotas, Civic and even Accord. The design is all over the place. no coherence at all with any. Just stupid silly designs for appeal.