Australia no go zone for Acura

Honda's President and CEO of Asian Honda Motor Company and COO Regional Operations (Asia & Oceania), Fumihiko Ike has declared Australia a no-go zone for the company's Acura premium brand.

The brand's boss for our region -- that takes in half the globe including markets like India, Thailand, Indonesia, and, of course, Australia -- says the brand will not be launched locally.

"No [I don't see a future for Acura in Asia Oceania], because Honda itself is a very well established brand name. In some Asian countries, as high as the European prestigious brands... So we don't have to bring it," Ike told the Carsales Network.

"Honda is already established -- very high end [in some markets] unfortunately or fortunately," he quipped.

Ike-san says Acura is an American market strategy, where he admits the brand is "struggling" with its "near luxury" positioning -- with only V6 powerplants and no rear-wheel drive platform.

Models such as the Legend, the discontinued MDX luxury SUV and V6 powered variants of the Accord Euro are marketed in the USA under the Acura badge. The brand has its own dealer network with stand alone sites and marketing.

Suggestions that it may be launched in Europe and Russia are still speculative. Indeed, he says Honda is still to confirm it will launch the premium channel into Japan.

Ike-san says the relatively lacklustre launch of Lexus in Japan has given Honda Motor Corp cause to re-visit plans to launch Acura in their home market. He also says that it would be unviable to launch the brand Down Under and that his message to Honda Australia is to concentrate on its core brand and products.

The sting in the tail of this policy, on the surface, could be no access to Honda's next generation NSX (pictured), which Ike confirms will be powered by a V10-engine and debut "in about two years".

The US is the main market for the car and thus is pulling rank. It says the car can wear only an Acura [Ed: not Honda] badge, lest the value of it as a halo for the brand be undermined. Were this scenario carried to its logical conclusion, other markets without Acura would not be able to sell the NSX.

Ike-san says Honda is still formulating its long term strategy for Acura -- and NSX. Indeed, he says many decisions are still to be made.

"We are still trying to harmonize our policy [for the Acura brand]. NSX is exclusive to Acura brand but now we are not selling Acura in Asia maybe there will be very strong resistance from the US that we put the H on the NSX. A big dilemma..."

A dilemma big enough to prompt a rethink on the entire Acura strategy, the Carsales Network asked Ike-san?

"Internally we are discussing... The final answer we don't know. But our priority is the US market because we initiated the Acura brand for the sake of the US market and how to rebuild is the discussion. Maybe we have to sacrifice [the NSX]," he opined.

The fact Honda is reviewing its roll out of Acura into wider markets could, in an interesting about face, nonetheless be the saving grace for local NSX fanciers.

Despite the US's reluctance Honda would be unlikely to exclude markets like Germany, the UK and France (as well as Japan) from selling NSX, yet that's exactly what they will have to do it they cannot brand the car with a big red H...

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