If YOU Were An Acura Executive, Would You Ship The U.S. Market A COMPACT SUV Or A LARGE 7-Seat SUV?

Both...IF IF IF Acura can actually develop premium products that are not just rebodied Hondas. Acura is flailing. It's a Japanese Mercury that's a wannabe Mercedes competitor. If Acura cannot separate itself from the stigma of being rebodied Hondas, then they should merge with BMW, kill Acura, and call it a day.

I'd have to agree with some of your points. Acura still has the huge consumer perception of being flashy rebadge efforts using Honda cars. Which they basically are. GM is doing 1000x better at platform sharing & differentiating similar models across brands such that it's way harder for the average driver to spot the fact that the CT5 shares a platform with the Equinox. Of course there's the obvious sharing cases - Tahoe/Yukon, but not too many people (who can afford either) complain much.

But honestly Acura's & Honda's still look much too similar even after all the mess GM & Ford went through. It's just disrespectful on some kind of level.

oop....I meant to name the XT5 vs the Equinox.

As a company director - I would have to go with the one that was potentially the most profitable. Bringing in a small CUV might not produce any increase -depending on the price -But a Larger CUV sells in a higher price category and likely would.

Of course - it would be nice to do BOTH.

One will be an Acura HRV and the other will be a bloated Pilot. There is no hope for anything better from Acura.

I'd have a stern talk with the boys in the design department and get them to make something that looks less pedestrian.

They should do both, small and large. That's the game today, SUVs/CUVs. HOWEVER, they need to NOT bring over that hideous CDX. I just don't understand how Acura was the designer of cars like the 3G TL and the original MDX. Both still look outstanding today. Yet their current designs are just not pretty. And the China-market CDX is a huge disappointment. Granted, almost nothing in that segment, NX, X1, Q3, GLA, QX30, is good looking, but the CDX just takes it down a notch or two. The HR-V concept was a true looker and Acura should take that design and start the CDX over for the NA market.

For a large SUV/CUV, I think Acura needs to get in that game. The MDX is such a popular seller that a step-up for buyers into a larger vehicle would be a no-brainer if Acura can build in the same goodness of the MDX. Would it be based on the Pilot? Certainly. How much does that really matter? Personally, I've never faulted Lexus or Infiniti or Audi or Cadillac for using the same platforms of their lesser brands. I'm sure if Mercedes or BMW had a true non-premium brand (no, not Smart or Mini Cooper), there would be plenty of platform sharing.

The platform sharing with the bargain brand will prevent Acura from ever being a premium brand. Ditto Buick. Ditto Lincoln.

@jonesharrison You do know the CLA relies heavily on Renault engineering, right? You do know that the CLA is a major black eye to Mercedes, right? It's reliability/durability is pretty terrible. Fortunately for Mercedes, the CLA is not indicative of the rest of their range.

their aspirations should be to appeal to a particular market and accept they won't be an upper tier brand. Make quality vehicles that appeal to ( someone ) and call it a day

jonesharrison, the new Infiniti small CUV is based on the MB CLA to reduce costs. MB does not build vehicles on Nissan architecture. BMW and Toyota are working on a sports car together. No BMWs are built on a Toyota platform.
And gang, Acura is not an MB wanna be and is it dimwitted to assume so. The top of the luxury market is crowded and well established. However, if you can establish a mid-tier luxury brand it can add to profitability.
The Acura MDX is already built on the Honda Pilot platform. The growth and money for Acura will be in the smaller CUV market where mid-tier brands have success.