Some premium brands are in trouble
With the exception of Lexus, which seems to have mastered the art of a balanced lineup that offers everything from hybrid crossovers to V8-powered luxury roadsters, Japanese premium brands, namely Acura and Infiniti, have been struggling to hold a strong footing in the North American market during recent times. As traditionally non-premium marques, such as Mazda and Toyota, have improved their lineups to the point where the distinction between non-premium and semi-luxury is almost nonexistent, buyers are struggling to understand why premium alternatives are so much more expensive when the product quality is so similar.
Lexus has always understood the importance of a flagship coupe in their lineup
When buyers are cross-shopping a Lexus with an Infiniti and an Acura, there are plenty of products that all brands offer that are directly comparable. For example, the all-new Acura ADX directly competes with the Lexus UX. The main difference, however, is that when prospective buyers enter a Lexus showroom, they may be greeted by the sight of a striking LC500 roadster or perhaps a stately LS 500h full-size sedan. When buyers are inevitably bombarded with targeted ads and content on social media, they’ll see Lexus’s flagship offerings there, too. From Acura, on the other hand, buyers won’t see much more than a few mid-size crossover offerings–most of which aren’t much different from their Honda counterparts.
Lexus has long understood the importance of having a luxury coupe integrated into their lineup, among other flagship models. Since the 1990s, when Lexus debuted the first-generation SC, their grand touring coupe has never been their best-selling model, nor was that ever its intended purpose. Its true purpose, however, was to show the world what sort of excitement and refinement Lexus was capable of–keeping the nameplate in the hearts and minds of people who might inevitably show up at a Lexus dealer to see one, only to leave with a mid-size sedan or SUV that better suited their needs, but retained the elegance and charm of the coupe.
Acura was once a serious player in the luxury coupe segment
Acura is no stranger to the luxury sports coupe game, either. In the late 1980s, Acura unveiled the stunning Legend Coupe–a full-size, V6-powered, two-door luxury car that made a prominent statement and turned heads wherever it went. The Legend Coupe continued on to a second generation in the mid-1990s, when it was eventually replaced by the Acura CL. The Acura CL was noticeably smaller than the Legend, but it was more focused on driver-oriented performance rather than being a cushy, large luxury vehicle. Like the Legend Coupe, the Acura CL spanned two generations from 1998 until 2003, when it was ultimately discontinued with no direct replacement. Although Acura’s coupe offerings were never its best-selling models, they were incredibly important for the brand’s image and market appeal, and the timeline from the late 1980s to the early 2000s represents some of Acura’s most prominent years in terms of the brand’s historical legacy.
Of course, at the time, abandoning a replacement for a mid-size luxury sports coupe for a brand like Acura seemed like a no-brainer. The market was rapidly shifting away from personal coupes towards four-door sedans and eventually towards crossovers and SUVs. However, these days, when we look at brands such as Mitsubishi, which eliminated every somewhat exciting model from their lineup in favor of better-selling crossovers, just to find that the brand would eventually fade into cultural irrelevance and financial woe as a result, we are reminded of the importance of genuinely interesting and exciting flagship models. They keep the brand image favorable and relevant, especially in a world as fast-paced as it is today.
Using generative text-to-image artificial intelligence, we take an imagined look at what a revived, true-to-its-roots Acura CL could look like, incorporating current Acura design cues and imagining what currently existing powertrains it could optimize. These images are for speculation purposes only and in no way depict any actual Honda or Acura products.
Reviving the Acura CL may seem nonsensical, but it’s about more than sales figures
So, just to be clear, I do not think that a revived Acura CL or a luxurious, sporty coupe under any name from Acura is destined to be a sales success that will skyrocket Acura’s relevance back to that of its glory days. However, I do believe that, as something of a “loss leader” for Acura, a sporty coupe could restore some of the brand’s former mystique and intrigue–something that a marque that touts itself as an “exciting luxury brand” desperately needs.
While it’s true that Acura attempted this with the revived NSX, the execution of that model was vastly overshadowed by the far more exciting Audi R8, thus slotting Acura well beneath Audi in the subconscious minds of prospective buyers for all types of vehicles. Using a currently existing platform, Acura could return a sporty coupe to its lineup without breaking the bank as much as it did with the NSX.
As the original Acura CL did, an all-new mid-size sport coupe from Acura could employ the brand’s most current mid-size sedan platform, and boy do they have a good one on their hands at the moment. The 2025 Acura TLX Type S would make a perfect base for the revived CL, what with its Super Handling All-Wheel Drive system, 10-speed automatic transmission with Sequential SportShift paddle shifters, Brembo 4-piston brakes, and its glorious, twin-scroll turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 that pumps out 355 horsepower, 354 lb-ft of torque with dual-overhead cams and a high-strength forged steel crankshaft and connecting rods. The TLX Type S also employs an active exhaust system and a unique transmission tune that offers 30% faster shifts compared to the standard TLX, which helps the sedan accelerate from 0-60 miles per hour in just 5 seconds flat. If all this were packaged in a gorgeous, aesthetically-compelling sport coupe, it would not only be an apple in the eye of enthusiasts worldwide, but it would also remind prospective buyers of how exciting an Acura can truly be.
Final thoughts
Despite the seeming lack of demand for contemporary sports coupes, it must be noted that those brands who do at least try to maintain relevance in this segment do so with adequate success. Take a look at the Toyota GR Supra, for example, which not only sparked a resurgence of performance-oriented models throughout Toyota’s lineup because of how much exposure it brought to the overall brand, but it allowed Toyota to win over the hearts of enthusiasts and less-enthusiastic buyers alike–even after a long spell of relatively dull (but still fantastic) offerings.
A revived Acura CL Type S, with specifications that mirror the TLX Type S, would make a seriously solid contender for the GR Supra, albeit with a more comfort-focused, daily-usable appeal, thanks to its potential all-wheel drive system, larger cargo space, and usable rear seating. Although Acura has been reasonably successful with its recent crossover offerings, it’s obvious that the brand lacks the exciting market appeal that it once had. Perhaps reviving the beloved, iconic Acura CL could change that.
