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An Acura executive has admitted that the company is considering joining Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz on the wagon bandwagon. According to John Watts, Acura’s senior manager of product planning, Honda’s premium brand is considering offering a wagon version of its TSX.
“We’re closely, closely looking at it,”Watts said.
A TSX wagon would follow in the footsteps of the upcoming 2010 Cadillac CTS SportWagon and the 2011 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Wagon. The premium brands are hoping to capitalize on consumers’ exodus from SUVs in the search for smaller, more fuel-efficient alternatives like crossovers. Acura hopes to appeal to younger buyers who don’t have the same stigmas about wagons as their parents do.
“Boomers and Gen X who had wagons as kids don’t want one, but the new kids do,” says Watts.
Notoriously cautious Honda may wait to see how well its competitors’ entries fare before it enters the premium wagon segment, but introducing the car to the U.S. market would be a relatively simple affair for the Japanese automaker, whichalready builds the TSX wagon. The European Honda Accord is actually the same vehicle as the Acura TSX here in the states, and in Europe they offer a wagon version called the Honda Accord Touring. Some badge swapping and NHTSA approval are virtually all that need to be done to import that Accord Touring as the TSX wagon.
Source: Car and Driver
This or even the CTS Sport Wagon are still 10 fold better than a Caravan.
“An Acura executive has admitted that the company is considering joining Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz on the wagon bandwagon.”How about adding BMW, Audi, and just about every other premium brand maker to the list. They all sell (and judging by how many I see in my neighborhood they do sell) wagon/estate versions of their cars. They seem to be much preferred over “crossovers”, as they seem to be just as alluring as “minivans”.
Coupes are dead. When we sold the CL at the Acura dealer I work at, well, we didn’t. In 2003 MY we sold about 10 if I remember correctly.The current market dictates that car buyers want space so they can haul around their 2.5 kids and groceries with more ease than an SUV, but more importantly, efficiency and handling as well.It was a pain to get ONE kid in and out of my ’07 Accord Coupe, and when I had another one, I had to settle for a sedan. If Acura brings this here, I will buy one as the TSX is an excellent car to begin with. Adding a wagon option will be a sure bet for increasing sales, especially with the RDX being such a flop; as well as giving Caddy and Benz a serious run for their money.As for a TSX or TL coupe they already make a US-spec Accord Coupe, so it would’nt be that hard. Higher-ups at Honda have said ever since the CL died that it probably would’nt happen unless the demand for a luxury coupe dramatically increased. Besides, Lexus has no coupe!
Acura doesn’t need a damn wagon, they need a coupe! The transition to a wagon isn’t difficult (as explained in the article) but how hard is it to make the TSX or TL into a large coupe?