The Acura ILX now in production in Indiana is important because it isn't made in Japan with its strong profit-sapping yen. The ILX, starting under $30,000, will be Acura's least expensive model when it goes on sale in May.
Honda Motor Company today announced that global automobile production declined to 12% to 3.1 million vehicles for the Japanese fiscal year ended 31 March 2012. The setback – induced by natural disasters in Japan and Thailand – stopped the recovery Honda experienced in 2011, after a decline in 2010.
Exports from Japan also decreased – a profitability problem since the upscale Acura brand is largely produced there. In the most important luxury market, Acura sales in the U.S. declined to 123,000 vehicles, from 134,000 in 2010 on a calendar year basis. Honda has yet to report financial results.
However, now that supply chain issues have resolved, Honda worldwide production showed a year-on-year increase for the third consecutive month since January 2012, setting an all-time March monthly record. Acura in the U.S. is boldly predicting that sales will increase 45% to 180,000 units.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
