[02-Type-S]

Hi guys

Probably a silly question but I was just wondering what the deal is with Acura and Honda from a brand perspective. The US seem to get both makes of cars but I'm not sure why

Is Acura to Honda like Lexus is to Toyota ?? Having looked at loads of pics it appears that the interior is slightly more classy than the Accord's (although I prefer the Euro body kit). I certainly prefer the dials as they look much better than the funny orange coloured ones I've got and in general the dash looks more solid/attractive.

Cheers

Darren

 

[20Seven]

Yes it's Honda upscale make just like Lexus to Toyota, Infiniti to Nissan, Lincoln to Ford, Cadillac to Chevrolet, I'm not sure how Pontiac, Chrysler, Dodge, and GM fit into that context, but I think they do (little help guys). Another interesting question is whether Audi is considered an upscale VW or are they just seperate companies using many of the same parts?

 

[TSX 'R' US]

Pontiac is more of the sport division, Buick is up there just below Cadillac, GMC are kinda the upscale trucks to Chevy, Chrysler is upscale to Dodge, but Dodge is also the sport division of Chrysler
VW, Audi and Porsche are all owned by VW... so Audi is the upscale and Porsche is the sport division. BMW and Mercedes are across the board IMO.

 

[sixspeed]

There has been a lot of parts and platform sharing between VW and Audi. However, according to the company execs, this is changing.

I'm not sure about Infiniti, but the Acura brand exists only in the American market. Everywhere else in the world it's "just" Honda.

 

[02-Type-S]

Thanks for the clarification. It's strange how Acura is only an American thing as I would have thought they'd sell better here seeing as the 'H' badge has still got a bit of a stigma attached to it (bunch of rotten snobs us Brits ).

As far as the Audi/VW thing goes, Audi is considered a prestige marque (along with BMW and Mercedes) whereas VW lies somewhere between regular and slightly premium. TBH the marketing team have done a pretty good job of separating the marques that make up the VAG group (Audi, VW, Seat and Skoda) but there have been some problems with platform sharing. This is probably why execs are out to change the common platform thing as the 2.0 FSI Skoda Octavia is about £8000 less than the A4 equivalent but uses the same engine, chassis, interior etc. Same goes for the Seat Leon, Golf and A3. Same basic platform but a massive difference in prices. Personally I find it a bit of a con but then the old Skoda reputation is legendary (do you get Skoda in the US?).

 

[ChinchillaX]

Nope they don't sell Skodas here in the US, but isn't it related to VW or is that the Spanish carmaker Seat?

Acura is also sold in Canada.

 

[02-Type-S]

Yeah, Seat was a sinking Spanish brand but got bought out by Audi/VW as was Skoda who were previously a sinking Czech manufacturer.

To be fair Audi/VW have done wonders with the two companies as their sportier cars are excellent (see Seat Leon and Skoda Octavia below). However the Leon has only just caught up with the Civic Type-R (literally) despite having 225bhp/210lbs ft and the Octavia is not quite as good as the Accord/TSX. Ho hum

 

[sixspeed]

That Octavia looks just like a BMW (at least from the front).

Jumping a bit off subject, can someone tell me what "co" in a url stuff.co.uk means ?

 

[lucky8]

http://www.netlingo.com/lookup.cfm?term=co or .co

 

[johnej]

Interesting discussion...

just like it is ford -> mercury -> lincoln