Honda: Asleep at the Wheel

The Chicago Auto Show Media Preview began today.  As a result, we get a look at two new production Acura vehicles, the refreshed RDX and the all-new ILX.  Really?  Seriously Acura?  This is the BEST you can do?  I think Acura has strayed a long way from the beautifully designed Acura Legend, Integra, and NSX of the early 90's.  During a time when most car companies were still producing hideous vehicles, a result of a terrible design style of the late 80's, Acura was the exception.  Sure Acura produced the terrible SLX (a re-branded Isuzu) but they made up for it with beauties like the Legend coupe.  Fast-forward to 2012 and you have a brand new ILX that does nothing to engender love in a car buyer.  It has the now company standard "shiny beak", drab dark interior, and unconvincing lines.  From a sales perspective, this car makes little sense because it will most likely cannibalize Accord and TSX sales.  Does Acura really need a luxurious Honda Civic?  These new Acura vehicles aren't as boring as the new VW Jetta or Passat, but they are pretty terrible.  A discussion on the root of the problem is in due measure.

Honda, the parent company of Acura, is really to blame here.  I would say the only semi decent looking model that Honda has produced lately would be the brand new 2012 Honda CR-V.  This is primarily due to the fact that they basically copied the design of the Volvo XC60.  The CR-V is the exception; the rest of the lineup is the rule.  The 2012 Honda Civic is a design failure and a great example of how unimaginative the designers at Honda can be. The 2012 Honda Civic, to an untrained eye, looks almost the same as a 2006 Honda Civic.  The fact that the 2006 Honda Civic was probably designed sometime around 2004 means that Honda is continuing use of eight year old design styles.  The 2012 Honda Civic is so bad that the CEO of Honda has practically made a public apology.  I'm not the only one who feels this way either.  Consumer Reports failed to recommend the Honda Civic for the first time in history and The Wall Street Journal referred to the Civic as heavy on the "ick."

The problems don't stop with the Civic.  Cars.com just recently named the Crosstour to their "10 Ugliest Cars from the past 30 years List".  The CR-Z easily could have made the list as well.  Then you have the Honda Pilot, which very nearly resembles the Acura SLX that I mentioned earlier.  I actually don't think that the Honda Pilot is ugly, I just find it induces uncontrollable yawning.  For some reason many car companies still like to sell ugly hybrids.  The Insight is proof of this and tragically, the Insight is almost as ugly as the Prius.  The Honda Accord is decent but, in my opinion, far behind the new Toyota Camry or Hyundai Sonata.  We won't spend too much time on the Accord, since it continues to be one of the top selling vehicles in the country.  This, however, is most likely a result of it being a good car and not a beautiful car.  This brings me to my last vehicle in the lineup that I want to talk about: the Honda Ridgeline.  Released in 2005 as a 2006 model, this truck has gone through nothing more than minor tweeks in the last 7 model years.  That is a sad sentence since it was ugly the moment it hit Honda dealerships in early 2005.  Being born ugly and staying ugly until you die is a tragic life and most likely the path that the Ridgeline will follow.  The Ridgeline is also a sad excuse for a truck and is the laughing stock for every other truck on the market.  It is kind of like a woman wearing a sweat suit and never actually doing any physical exercise or a guy in a full ski suit who just hangs out in the lodge all day because he can't ski down the hill.

Honda needs to wake up.  The competition is increasing.  Hyundai is selling more Elantras than they can keep on their lots.  Kia is spending serious marketing money on the new Optima.  Nissan is about to release the redesigned Altima and  Toyota just debuted the newly designed Toyota Camry.  Honda, your move. Acura too needs a hot coffee to alert the company's senses.  If they haven't noticed, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus are all making extremely attractive, quality vehicles.  Acura has the quality but the looks, when compared to the competition, are embarrassing.  Since the ILX and RDX were just shown today it doesn't look like the design team will be making serious changes any time soon. And that is sad.