Acura in recent years has become an SUV maker that has a side business in cars. Its MDX and RDX crossovers (updated versions of which are debuting at the Chicago auto show) far outsell any of its passenger cars. Now comes word that the brand may add another crossover to its stable. Interviewed by WardsAuto at the recent Automotive News World Conference, American Honda executive vice president John Mendel says that Acura is looking at a doing compact crossover based on the new Honda HR-V.
Compared to the brand’s current smallest crossover, the Acura RDX, the HR-V is some two feet shorter, four inches narrower, three inches lower, and sits astride a three-inch-shorter wheelbase. An Acura version with roughly the same dimensions (102.8-inch wheelbase, 169.1 inches long) would mesh pretty well with the newly emerging class of premium-brand baby crossovers: Audi QX3 (102.5-inch wheelbase, 172.6 inches long); BMW X1 (108.7-inch wheelbase, 176.5 inches long); Buick Encore (100.6-inch wheelbase, 168.4 inches long); and Mercedes-Benz GLA (106.3-inch wheelbase, 173.9 inches long).
Acura might want to consider upgrading the engine from Honda’s 138-hp, 1.8-liter four, however. With the exception of the Buick, all of the models in the competitive set rock a 2.0-liter engine with 200 horsepower or better. Maybe the 2.4-liter, 201-hp unit from the ILX would fit?
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Presumably, a pint-sized Acura would also be priced below the RDX, which currently starts at $36,015. Might the wee SUV go below the ILX’s base sticker of $27,970? We wouldn’t bet on it. But Acura going forward with an HR-V-based crossover? We’d lay a few bucks down on that.
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/1u9xxdk
via Agya
