Acura is a brand used by Japanese carmaker Honda for luxury automobiles produced only in the US, Canada and Hong Kong since 1986. The Acura brand, produced with superior Honda technology, was first introduced in Mexico in 2004 and in 2006 in the Chinese market. The Honda company ranked first in the luxury car market, which is produced outside Japan with the Acura brand.
After nearly 10 years of research and development work, in 1986 Honda Motor Company opened 18 representatives in North America to promote and market Acura automobile models. The Acura brand has become a "first Japanese luxury car" in this country. The first models offered to the American market: Legend, V6-Reinforced Coupe, Sedan and Integra. With the success of these models, other Japanese automakers (such as Toyota Lexus and Nissan's Infiniti) launched brands and started a competition between them. Honda plans to continue this brand in many other countries as the days go by. Acura is the most luxurious car in the US.
In 1986, Honda entered the American luxury car market with its Legend, V6-Reinforced Coupe, Sedan and Integra models and received the "Best imported car" award in 1991 with the Legend model. Following this award, Honda accelerates its research and development efforts and introduces the new NSX model, which is manufactured with revolutionary VTEC technology. In 1997, the Integra Type-R was introduced. The MDX model presented in the market in 2001 received the "Best sports car" award in the same year. In 2002, Honda announced that the name of the Integra model in North America was changed to RSX. In 2003, the CL Coupe and Acura Integra Sedan models were replaced by the more advanced model TSX (to compete with the BMW 3 Series models). Acura models were introduced to the Mexican market in 2004 in the direction of increasing competition and demands. The third-generation Acura TL model, which was put on the market in the same year, was the best-selling luxury car in America. In 2005, the Acura TL model was chosen by Edmunds.com as "The Most Admired Vehicle". At the end of the same year, Acura RL, produced by SH-AWD technology, was offered for sale. At the end of long-term marketing strategies, Honda was introduced to the Chinese market in 2006. Evaluating requests from the Japanese domestic market, Honda announced that it will sell its Acura models in the domestic market in 2008.
