has decided to pull its Acura-branded vehicles from the country at the end of 2022. This comes just six years after the semi-luxury brand was introduced in 2016 in cooperation with its local joint venture GAC. Honda issued a statement saying that it will reallocate resources towards its new e:NP lineup for the Chinese market moving forward.
GAC stands for Guangqi, one of many Chinese brands that Honda has partnered with to sell its products in the country. Two different GAC Acura branded vehicles, the CDX and the RDX, will remain on sale until all units are sold through. Once that day comes, GAC Honda dealers will continue to serviceRead Also:China is one of the most important markets for automakers and represents a huge opportunity for growth.
GAC Acura isn’t the only brand to struggle in the burgeoning market. The Honda NSX was a sales flop as were both Infiniti and Citroen’s DS luxury brand. It seems that more established luxury marques likeIt’ll be interesting to see howfairs against the likes of Tesla which is a very popular EV brand in the country. Sure, the Japanese-built cars won’t cost as much but that’s no guarantee of success.
It should also be noted that Acura could make a return at some point in the future, especially once a number of models are all-electric. If you’re in China we’re willing to bet that there’s a good deal to be had on a new GAC Acura or two. Correction: Acura only sells the CDX, CDX Sport Hybrid and the larger RDX currently in China, not the TLX-L