- Acura debuted the Performance EV Concept during Monterey Car Week to hint at a new electric SUV that will join the company’s lineup next year.
- Head of design Dave Marek says the design themes from this concept will be seen across future Acura vehicles.
- The production version of this concept will be the first EV on Honda’s new EV architecture and built in the company’s new hub for electric-vehicle production in southern Ohio, launching in late 2025.
Following closely behind the 2024 ZDX, Acura’s first EV, is this Performance EV Concept that hints at its next one. This is a big deal, because this is the first EV off Honda’s new EV platform developed in-house, whereas the ZDX is built by General Motors and shares its underpinnings with the Cadillac Lyriq.
The Performance EV Concept is debuting during Monterey Car Week and will be on display at The Quail as well as the concept lawn during the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. No surprise, the concept is a SUV, with a fast roofline that’s closer in appearance to the 2010–2013 ZDX than the new EV that wears that nameplate.
The pillars and roof are blacked out to give it a dramatic two-tone effect, and Acura’s head of design, Dave Marek, says that the design themes from the Performance EV Concept, such as the vented hood and the prominent diagonal body-side feature and rounded contouring, will be seen on future Acura vehicles.
Acura didn’t release dimensions of the concept, so we’ll have to wait until we see it in person to get a sense of its size. The company says that spelling out A-C-U-R-A across the rear liftgate will be shared by all of the company’s electrified vehicles.
Honda is in the middle of a large-scale, $700 million overhaul of its two final-assembly factories in southern Ohio, Marysville (which currently builds the Honda Accord and Acura TLX and Integra) and East Liberty (which produces the Honda CR-V and Acura RDX and MDX), along with its engine plant in nearby Anna, all of which will contribute to building EVs. A joint venture with LG Energy will provide the battery cells to power these EVs, and the production version of this EV concept will be the first one to come from this Ohio hub and will hit the road in late 2025.
Dave VanderWerp has spent more than 20 years in the automotive industry, in varied roles from engineering to product consulting, and now leading Car and Driver‘s vehicle-testing efforts. Dave got his very lucky start at C/D by happening to submit an unsolicited resume at just the right time to land a part-time road warrior job when he was a student at the University of Michigan, where he immediately became enthralled with the world of automotive journalism.
Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
