One of the hardest tricks in business is to know when to persist, when to adapt, and when to move on. I was at eBay’s big 30th Anniversary pop-up store in SoHo last night for a VIP event. Sarah Michelle Gellar was there, seemingly doing some promo work ahead of the revival of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was probably right for that series to find its end when it did, and it’s also probably the right time to bring it back now.
You know what was a harder call? Everything on display was from the mid-90s, which means they had one of the Kenner Luke Skywalker dolls on display. I didn’t know the story of this doll, but I think it’s worth reviewing this morning. Essentially, Star Wars as a franchise had done little new since Return of the Jedi. This meant that there was no obvious reason to put out merchandise. However, VHS sales were still high, and every parent was showing every kid the original Star Wars trilogy. The toy brand Kenner, having been recently purchased by Hasbro, decided it didn’t really need a new movie and started producing more action figures. They were a hit, and now we have a lot more Star Wars stuff.
The Acura Integra was an obvious home run for Acura when it came out, and it remains one of the most iconic and popular names for the brand. What did Acura do with its popular name? Dropped it for alphanumerics and then got rid of the car altogether. The Integra is back, and it’s good, although it probably should have been a coupe. Now it sounds like Acura might go all-crossover, which seems foolish to me.
Less foolish to me is the resurgence of Ford Racing. That seems like a thing that should happen. Additionally, I’m supportive of the return of the European car show and of Europe in general. The only one who seems to be going backwards is BYD, which is revising its own sales down, which seems smart to me.
An All-Crossover Acura Sucks, But I Have A Solution
Do you want to see a truly hilarious graphic from Honda/Acura:
YTD, Acura car sales are down 19.6% and “truck” sales are up 10.7%. In August, car sales were up 8.8%, and “truck” sales were down 11.8%. This is just one month, and a weird month at that, with some hangover from MDX factory retooling. Also, Acura picked the absolute wrong time for a “model year sell-down” for the ZDX before the arrival of the 2026 ZDX, given that the tax credit is about to expire.
I have some questions about how Honda and GM dealt with the fact that the tax credit was suddenly expiring, and both needed as much inventory as possible to shove into customers’ hands. Will those questions ever be answered? Maybe not!
Either way, the general trend is that people aren’t buying Acura’s two existing cars (the very good Integra and totally fine Acura TLX), but are buying their “trucks.” For reasons probably having to do with discounting, the TLX actually sold quite well in August, while the Integra didn’t.
The problem with the trucks, though, is that none of them are hybrid, and all of them should be hybrid. Honda’s logic in designing a hybrid system that works for vehicles sized from Civic to CR-V, but not for bigger vehicles, maybe makes sense? Perhaps the idea was that EVs would fill a lot of that gap, so why make a hybrid?
According to this Automotive News article about Acura’s pivot, there was a lot of that kind of thinking rolling around:
While the Japanese automaker has a long history in hybrids, developing and introducing new electrified powertrains takes time, American Honda CEO Kazuhiro Takizawa told reporters during an August briefing in Monterey, Calif.
“When you change the powertrain and the crash test, we have to start from scratch,” Takizawa said. “We usually need four years or more to have the new vehicle, so it’s lead time we need to secure.”
Takizawa declined to comment on what models the automaker was targeting for hybrid drivetrains. But the RDX crossover, due for a redesign in 2028, is a good candidate, given the potential development timeline.
It was initially thought that the recently debuted RSX electric crossover would serve as a replacement for the RDX since they are similarly sized, but now it seems likely the two will coexist until the market is more accepting of electric vehicles, making a hybrid addition more appealing.
It looks like the big Honda hybrids aren’t coming until 2028 at the earliest. Worse, though, is that the company is probably shuffling off both the TLX and the Integra:
Acura also announced the end of production of its TLX sedan, leaving the Integra as the sole option for the shrinking set of buyers looking outside crossovers. But with the Integra’s expected discontinuation in 2028, Acura will join the ranks of crossover-exclusive premium brands such as Lincoln and Buick.
While an electric NSX was previously expected to arrive in 2027 or 2028, the revised near-term product roadmap no longer includes a placeholder for the halo sports car. Nevertheless, at the Monterey briefing, Katsushi Inoue, American Honda’s director and senior managing executive officer, said executives fully understand the importance of the nameplate and are “just postponing it.”
Cancelling the Integra the first time was a mistake, which is probably why Acura brought the name back. Toyota is making cars work (Camry sales were up a lot in August), as are Kia and Hyundai. Cars can sell, and they can also be an affordable way into a brand (plus their sales can stand up to spikes in fuel prices). Make more cars! Building the success of your company on the back of a car like the Integra, killing it, and then bringing it back only to kill it again is terrible for loyalty. While I like the current Integra, it’s not going to be a huge volume seller (even though it is essentially the halo model for the brand).
I get that crash-testing and development are a pain, though, so can I make a suggestion? Or, rather, can I just take a prior complaint and turn it into a suggestion? The 2026 Honda Prelude seems awesome, and it’s also probably going to be a little too expensive, for tariff reasons, on top of being a smaller-run/more niche vehicle. A good solution to that might just be dropping an Acura badge and a slight rework of the nose onto the Prelude.
It should be easier to develop, it returns the Integra to its roots, and it gives the brand a high-MPG, attractive, sporty halo car until the new NSX arrives in 20 years or whatever actually happens. This is a layup, Acura. Do it!
Ford Racing Is Back!
For a company that doesn’t make many cars (i.e. not SUVs/trucks), Ford sure is into racing. Some of this likely comes from CEO Jim Farley’s predilections (having been to his garage in Monterey, the dude sincerely loves racing). As far as car-exec sidequests go, it could be worse.
The Ford family loves racing, too, and so Henry Ford’s great-great-grandson Will Ford is going to take over a newly-formed organization called Ford Racing that will combine all of the company’s customer and professional racing pieces. From Ford’s big mission statement:
Under one global Ford Racing banner, our engineers and designers will develop our performance road cars right alongside our race cars. The technology that survives the Baja 1000 will be in the DNA of the next F-150 Raptor. The aerodynamic lessons we learn at Daytona and Le Mans will be sculpted into the body of the next Mustang.
This is a direct line from the track to your driveway, and it starts now. The first production vehicle born from this new Ford Racing mindset will debut this January.
This is about more than just the machines. It’s about the experience. Our racing schools and the Bronco Off-Roadeo are not side projects; they are a core part of our mission. They are where we prove that the capabilities we engineer on the track and on the trail are real, and where we share that excitement directly with you.
Can I get a hell yeah? Hell yeah!
Munich Is Back, Too!
Sorry for channeling my inner-Upton Sinclair here, but today is worthy of a lot of exclamation points! Even before the pandemic, the general malaise of the European car industry meant that car shows were slowly becoming non-events. The two big European shows were once the Geneva Motor Show and Frankfurt (aka the IAA Mobility show). Geneva is moving to Qatar, for some reason, and IAA has moved to Munich.
I’m Bavarian, so I am highly supportive of this decision (better airport, too), but it didn’t matter so much at the time. I’d argue it matters a lot now. The inevitable outcome of both America and China being less reliable trading partners is that Germany has to stand on its own, and while I’m generally supportive of global cooperation, crisis precipitates change, and the industry needs to change.
Here’s Manager Magazin on the improved vibes:
“The trade fair, like the entire industry, had to be transformed. The experience aspect must be the focus today,” says industry expert Bratzel. Now things are looking up again. In 2023, the association counted around 100,000 people at the Open Space in the city center alone on the Saturday of the fair; this year, this area will be 20 percent larger. There’s a bike path and light shows; a Munich radio station is hosting a band competition.
The exhibition halls are also expected to be busier again. After all, European exhibitors are back and want to make their presence felt at Europe’s most important auto show – even in the face of growing competition from China. “It’s extremely difficult for European manufacturers to even gain visibility in China,” says Bratzel. “It’s similar in the US.” Recently, the Stellantis brands Peugeot, Fiat, and Opel have also been struggling with declining sales figures in Europe. The trade fair is regaining importance as a marketing platform – even though several manufacturers are cutting their marketing budgets.
And the Chinese are gaining ground, even at the show. By 2023, the share of Chinese automakers had already doubled compared to the previous edition; BYD made its debut in the exhibition halls with a stand as large as Volkswagen’s. This year, the Chinese share will be even higher.
China is coming. America is wild right now. Get going, Germany!
BYD Is Backing Off A Bit!
This was inevitable. BYD set a humongous sales goal for itself, but the problem with a goal like that is that you might slowly destroy yourself trying to achieve it. We call this a pyrrhic victory, like when you allow your closer to throw a bunch of pitches to win one game, and he blows out his arm before the playoffs…
BYD’s tactics included some reasonable ones, like the continued discounting of new models. It also involved the company doing some more questionable things, like selling a bunch of zero-mileage used cars. The Chinese government cracked down on automaker juicing habits, and now BYD seems to be trying to respond to both the oversight and the general slowing of the larger market.
For most of the year, the expectation was 5.5 million car sales, but that’s dropped to closer to 4.6 million according to the latest report. Here’s what Reuters has on the moves:
The latest target, which has not been previously reported, is below several recently lowered forecasts from analysts. This week Deutsche Bank said it expected BYD to sell 4.7 million vehicles while Morningstar said it expected 4.8 million.
The new target represents a 7% increase from last year and would be the slowest annual growth since 2020, when sales fell by 7%.
The pared-back outlook also speaks to the deflationary pressure weighing on the world’s second-largest economy, where domestic demand has been hit by a prolonged housing downturn. In the first eight months of this year, BYD has only met some 52% of its original 5.5 million vehicle sales target.
That’s still probably enough to beat Tesla, if anyone cares.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I suppose the version of “Istanbul (not Constantinople)” I should use is the They Might Be Giants cover, as that’s the only version I’d ever heard. I heard the original this weekend, and I quite like it. Please enjoy The Four Lads.
The Big Question:
What’s the best Ford race car of all time, and why is it the Tommy Kendall All Sport Roush Trans-Am Mustang?
Top Photo: Acura
Oof, that pic of that Legend coupe gives me all the feels.
Awesome listening pick. I never heard the original before!
GT40 MkII, is this even a question?
I say let Acura go all crossover. No, seriously, I mean that. There’s a way to still keep the Integra around. Brand it as a Honda. It was originally a Honda nameplate anyways.
I actually see a lot of Integras up north here, but then historically we always had the EL, ILX.
The best Ford race car of all time is the GT40 and this isn’t even vaguely up for discussion or debate because it’s literally perfect. Moving right along…
Honda not having a hybrid system for their larger cars is one of the biggest unforced automotive errors of the 2020s. The Pilot, Passport, Odyssey, and MDX are all super good, competitive offerings in every way except one, and it’s a big one-fuel economy. All those big NA V6s get horrendous gas mileage.
They’re rated in the low 20s combined and are in the teens with regard to city mileage, which is just totally unacceptable in 2025. They can apparently outperform their highway ratings, but so can everything else. Most cars do better than their EPA Highway ratings and worse than their city ratings.
If the blogs and journalists are to be believed folks are often getting mid teens in practice with the Passport and Pilot. I get that we have a sizable crowd of “but muh NA engine, fuel economy and emissions don’t matter to me” folks here in enthusiast land, and in the off roading/truck community lower gas mileage is seen as a flex/badge of honor…but those people aren’t buying these cars.
Families are, and why would you buy an Odyssey that gets 20 MPG when you could buy a Sienna or Carnival that get 35? Why would you buy a Pilot that gets 20 when you could get a Highlander that manages 35? If the difference was a few MPG I’d get it but when other vehicles are damn near doubling your fuel economy that’s too big of difference to ignore, and even if you loudly and proudly don’t give a shit about the environment the amount of money the hybrid will save you is hard to ignore.
How did Honda, one of the first companies in the hybrid game that makes class leading hybrids in multiple categories, manage to fuck this up? If they put the development effort and money into making competitive EVs I could kind of wrap my head around it…but their EVs are GM reskins that are barely competitive and not as desirable as some of the GM counterparts.
Would you rather have a ZDX or a Lyric? I know what I’d pick and it ain’t the Acura. Their upcoming fully Honda Acura EV is a hideous abomination that’s DOA. Luxury buyers are willing to put up with worse gas mileage in the MDX, but even the non hybrid competitors have engines that are a generation newer and still more efficient.
How did they fuck this up so badly? It’s mind boggling. Anyway Acura also needed hybrids yesterday. Everything with that aggressively mediocre 1.5 liter turbo 4 would be significantly better with their small car hybrid powertrain. It’s faster, more powerful, more efficient, and more refined. There’s absolutely no reason the Integra and new ADX shouldn’t have debuted with it, let alone still not have it now.
More mediocre crossovers isn’t the answer Acura is looking for. The throw over home plate “hey what if we put the hybrid powertrain we already have in them!” is. Do it already you cowards.
Just traded in an ’05 MDX for a ’13 Highlander. Both n/a 3.5L V6 and 5 speed auto. I’m getting at least 2 more mpg on the Highlander so far (300 or so miles). The MDX got the same terrible mileage as my ’99 Grand Cherokee 4.0L.
Hybrid is 1000% the answer, unfortunately they are few on the ground and marked up. This is also why my SUV sits in the driveway most days as we daily a Corolla and Camry Hybrid. If I got 30+ mpg in this, I’d probably sell one car and buy a toy.
It’s sad when bigger GM body-on-frame trucks get the same mileage.
I just don’t understand how those engines are so bad on gas. The current non-hybrid 4Runner gets better mileage than a Passport Trailsport. For context an AWD RAM 1500 with the v8 oF pRoTeSt to own the libs gets 18/22/19. The Passport and Pilot Trailsport each getw 18/23/20.
A regular AWD Pilot gets 19/25/21. I just don’t understand why you’d put up with that in 2025. It’s barely better than full sized BOF American SUVs.
I just don’t want the footprint of a Tahoe or Expedition. Also the rolly-polly ride. I get a better footprint and ride in a Highlander/Lexus/Pilot/MDX but the same shitty mileage on 2 less cylinders! Why?
I would buy a Passport tomorrow if it was even reasonably efficient. I love them and they’d be perfect for our needs. But I am not putting up with 20 combined MPG in 2025. Hell…the fucking body on frame, not-for-efficiency hybrid 4Runner and Land Cruiser manage 23 combined.
So if I went Passport I’d be getting something that’s both less efficient and less capable. Unlike many people I don’t fancy myself as a serious off roader and I don’t have fantasies about surviving the fury road. I would rather have a crossover and would feel no shame when people judged me for it because life is too short.
But for the same money I could get a truck that’s exponentially more capable and noticeably more efficient from Toyota, and I don’t think I could turn that down, quality of life sacrifices or not.
I’d add: How did Honda, a leader and innovator in conventional ICE technology fall so far behind? Ever since their beginnings in automotive, their brand was brilliant, efficient and reliable engines. As well as great manual transmissions and better than average suspensions. They’ve lost the script.
Acura never should have dropped the names. The Legend was one. Integra, which BTW was available as a 4 door that most forgot. I had a Gen2 TSX, which should still have been a Vigor. I just sold my old MDX, which is an uninspiring name as any, though the SUV was quite nice in its time.
I actually heard a rumor they dropped the names because they were more recognizable than the Acura brand overall in the late ’90s.
I thought they dropped the names to be more like Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, and Infiniti. Either way, their vehicles are a meaningless melange of meh. Didn’t they just rename the ILX and stamp Integra on the bumper? I guess they did offer a manual transmission.
I loved my TSX, I tested a bigger TLX and was unimpressed.
My favorite use of “Istanbul (not Constantinople)” is in the show Bunheads.
The 999/Arrow/New 999/Red Devil. The identities are a bit muddled but still the best.
Although developed in Britain, it’s hard to top the GT40 MKII.
FTFY
Agreed, it was top dog until the aero era.
I like the Integra, and would love to have a Type-S, but they are too expensive. All of the Integra trims are too expensive, but they become very challenging to consider once you get to the A-Spec and above. But an all-crossover Acura is depressing…
I like the Integra a lot, and when I was shopping for a new daily driver this year a CPO ’24 would have been within budget. The kiss of death was that the automatic option (manual transmission and SW Florida rush-hour traffic isn’t fun) is a CVT. Why, Honda? A DCT or torque-converter auto would have probably put me into one. THat’s one instance where the Integra’s parts-bin nature doesn’t do it any favors.
And since everybody else says GT40 Mark II, I’m going Lotus Cortina today.
Nvm, I don’t how to read lol.
The Integra doesn’t have a market argument just like most of the Acura brand. It’s a nicer Civic, but the current Civic is pretty damn nice and comes in hybrid. Why would I pay $37k for an Integra when a Civic Touring Hybrid is cheaper, faster and gets better gas mileage?
The Integra is having a Thunderbird moment. What does it do better than it’s cheaper sibling?
The Integra is a luxury Civic Si, basically. It does make some sense, but I agree the MSRP is too high.
If the Integra had SH-AWD I think people would flock to pay the premium for an AWD Civic
This is a good point. My neighbor bought an Integra Type-S earlier this year despite it not having AWD, which he very openly admits. He loves the car, but the lack of AWD was a big miss on his part. I think the AWD option would have given the Integra more justification for its price, though the unfortunate reality is they would just hike the price more to compensate.
Great. Raise the price even more.
IMO it’d make more sense to just build an AWD Civic than to inflate the Integra’s MSRP even further.
Completely true but that goes back to my original argument, what’s the point of the Integra if the Civic does the same things or better?
The Integra has considerably more luxury features and better-quality interior materials than the Civic does. You also get the Si’s go-fast bits (plus adjustable dampers) with an available automatic. It’s definitely worth a premium over a Civic, but not enough to justify its current MSRP.
I personally think the type is is worth it over the type r but the normal integra is not. The civic is just really good.
Cachet?
Anymore? Acura is probably just above Infiniti in people’s minds, or I’m just projecting my own feelings. Acura doesn’t make terrible products, but I don’t think it makes aspirational ones either.
In the ’90s the Integra had engine choices unavailable on Civic. Plus a discenrnable difference in interior materials.
Exactly, now the Integra has less choices than the Civic!
You’ll take it and you’ll like it!!
I think that’s what Acura says to their dealers
I give it three years or less before the name is on the back of a crossover.
Integ-RV
It could be argued that the Integra’s sales dip last month is from changing over to the 2026. The sales dip last year, Honda said “despite inventory issues due to preparation for EV production in Ohio. Integra continues to lead its segment with over 41% of retail sales share.”
But I just don’t know who it’s for now. Going over $40k for an A-spec Tech gets you to an Accord Touring which is better equipped and more efficient and roomier. Part of the appeal over a Honda is leasing, but leases seem higher lately on casual browsing.
Like I and others said in the other thread it seems like the Prelude was initially intended as an Integra. Even the Prelude’s blue/white interior color scheme is in line with what Acura’s been pushing.
“Integra continues to lead its segment with over 41% of retail sales share.”
It’s a pretty crowded segment too! /S
Right…Acura has cited models like the 2-Series as competition and while I guess it’s technically correct I don’t think anyone is really doing much cross shopping across companies.
Yeah it seems like the Prelude’s costs would be way better amortized if there was an Acura version as well…and it’s not like the Si and Type S powertrains would be hard to fit either…
The Ford SuperVan is the GOAT. I will hear no other arguments because you would be WRONG.
“Honda’s logic in designing a hybrid system that works for vehicles sized from Civic to CR-V, but not for bigger vehicles, maybe makes sense? “
Nope.. it makes no sense.
“Under one global Ford Racing banner, “
Personally I’d prefer the name “Ford Special Vehicle Operations”… so we can have another Mustang SVO. Also, ‘Special Vehicle Operations’ just sounds more cool to me than ‘Ford Racing’.
“What’s the best Ford race car of all time,”
Oh that’s easy… the Ford GT40.
I agree. The fact that one of their biggest sellers, the Pilot, doesn’t have a hybrid available seems like a huge mistake. It would also mean they could easily transfer that to some of their other larger sellers like the MDX, Odyssey, and Passport since they all have so much in common. Also, as unlikely as it probably is, it would be sweet to get back a higher powered, but now hybrid, Accord Sport.
Every time the rumor starts that they will hybridize the Ridgeline, I get myself ready to buy one.
The best things to hybridize are the less efficient vehicles. More noticeable difference and higher volume sellers.
Is Acura even remotely relevant. I had to look the brand up to know what the lineup consists of.
I mean… they have the DOA, the FML, the SRY and the SUX.
EDIT: I feel the names are terrible, not so much the cars. They’re just boring.
Big is back?!
An American Tradition
8.2 MPG
Maybe Acura should’ve actually done the name justice instead of just rebadging their boring compact sedan and slapping a 3-tip exhaust on it.
As much as I love the RS200 the most correct answer is the GT40. There was an entire big Hollywood movie dedicated to it.
Unpopular opinion, crossovers make more sense 90% of the time. I hate it, but it’s true. The CR-V is not that much more, or that much less efficient than an Accord, yet it holds more, and is more practical. Sure the real answer here is hatchbacks and wagons, but realistically, that’s what most of these crossovers are. Mazda CX-30? That thing has no ground clearance, it’s a hatchback. And as much as we mourn the death of traditional sedans, we don’t buy them. I have a convertible, a minivan, and you guessed it, a crossover. I don’t need it to be fun, that’s what I have the Miata for, I just need something that can help me tote the kids and all their crap around, and the Rav4 does that better than a Camry would.
They absolutely make more sense. You can’t force people to buy sport sedans. And car people love to gloss over the fact that a huge percentage of buyers genuinely need cars that are easy to get in and out of. Sport sedans are not that. I of course don’t want them to ever go away, but we need to see the writing on the wall here.
Oh 100% on the ease of getting in and out of. My Rav4 was my grandma’s, and I helped her pick it out. She was planning to get another sedan, but after driving a few, and knowing her mobility was getting limited, the Rav was the perfect fit for her, she could see out of it very well, it was easier to get in and out of, and it just made sense. I don’t think I would ever steer an older friend/relative towards a sedan over a small crossover.
Just had a total hip replacement done in late July. At age 68 I assure you that seat height, and ease of entry or exit makes counts for a whole lot. For me CUV’s are are blessing in most use cases…
Exactly. Climbing up out of a sedan just isn’t easy for many people.
neither is climbing up into a truck and trying to hop out
Agreed, which is where the small and relatively low crossovers are perfect.
To your point: I read a comparison of usable cargo capacity between the Mazda 3 sedan and hatch, and the CX-30, which gets poked at for being “just” a 3 Hatch on stilts. So many people say a hatchback is the way to go since there’s more storage space. That is, until you need to get people in the back seats. Usable cargo is as follows, least to most: 3 Hatch, CX-30, 3 Sedan. And the Sedan & CX are as close as makes no difference.
SUVs are absolutely an easier sell. I’d much prefer a true wagon, but I don’t know anyone in my life that would agree, they’re pretty much all on the SUV train. I’ll always be sad to see the demise of cars, and I do think it will prove to be a shortsighted move for Ford et. al. However, I’ve been wrong before, and just may be wrong about this as well.
Yeah the Mazda may not have been the best example, but I remember seeing the same for the Chevy Sonic, the trunk was actually bigger than the hatch, but outside of the small cars I don’t think that’s usually the case. The Mazda6 (when they allowed us to have nice things) held 33 compared to 15 for the sedan in 2006.
Yeah I don’t know that killing the sedan will hurt them this round, enough crossovers get good enough mpgs that it’s not a substantial hit anymore. When the choice was a Blazer getting 15 or an Impala getting close to 30 it made sense, now not so much.
IDK how turning the Integra into something with a higher MSRP and less practicality would help sales.
I know the answer is the GT40 but I have a soft spot for the Focus rally car that Colin McRae drove in the early 00s.
WTH? I’ve been singing along with TMBG all these years and had no idea that was a cover.
What a weird set of lyrics. Who thought “let’s make a song about the name change of Constantinople. “
Yeah they could have sung about old New York which was once New Amsterdam.
Why’d they change it?
I can’t say.
Guess they liked things better that way.
People just liked it better that way.
Well it’s Türkiye now anyway.
That’s nobody’s business but the Turks’.
I’ll always know that as the Animaniacs version. Anything with singing camels is a win in my book!
The best Ford racer of all time was the GT40 Mk II
And Acura is just as irrelevant as Infiniti – both need to just go away.