1993 Nissan 240SX Part 4: The 240SS was born! (With the help of a LS3) - Ignition Ep 120.
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LOS ANGELES - The idea seems almost ridiculous to Tom Elliott in 1982, but it was black and white strategically products Co Honda Motor.
Elliott bosses in Japan had decided to sell a car at a price of more than 20,000 in the United States, taking the Japanese premium brand considerably and Elliott, head of U S Honda sales, less than four years to prepare.
Although Honda had been selling vehicles in America since 1959 - first motorcycles and the small sedan S600 - he was barely ten years since moving into the traditional subcompact cars with the Civic and Accord 1982, which is smaller than the Civic is today, was only in its second generation, with an engine of 86 hp his starting price was 7399, about 16 500 in today's money.
While Honda has been manufacturing motorcycles in Ohio, he hadn t yet started producing cars in the United States.
But the leaders of Japan were very serious to offer a midsize luxury sedan, including a V-6 version 1986 - let alone a supercar arrival in 1988 which would be filled with Formula 1 technology.
In 1982, Elliott sat with American Honda President Yoshihide Munekuni and boss Cliff Schmillen sales to develop a plan that was as bold as the cars they intended to sell was tentatively called Channel Two, and it would the first new car brand to American shores in over two decades.
We did not want to think about the reputation t Economic Honda, cheap, reliable family cars would spread wide enough to cover the expensive sports cars, Elliott says.
confidence brain Acura gathered in 1986 to celebrate the brand new Left Takao Kajiwara, engine specialist; Toshio Kato, a specialist in dynamic performance; Sadao Makiguchi, designer; Koji Sappa, project manager for the legend; Tom Elliott, American Honda executive vice president; and Masahiro Ohashi, inappropriate handling.
In an era before PowerPoint, Elliott and assistant Tom Umeno was a pile of 11x17 graphics on a plane to Japan and presented the idea of a luxury channel to executives of Honda r.
It was designed to be an interception brand owners to capture Japanese products before moving to BMW and Mercedes, said Elliott.
Acura has ever achieved the prestige and sales levels achieved by Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, who fought against luxury brand leadership in recent years Acura has peaked at 209.610 units in 2005 and entered a four-year slide before rising 26 percent last year to 133,606.
Lexus, which arrived in 1990, left in the dust Acura Toyota paid a lot more resources in its Acura luxury brand project but has pioneered.
Elliott said the idea of a new brand was not a hard sell to Honda executives in Japan.
Now, American Honda needed to do was to create a brand from scratch, to persuade dealers to take the franchise and plan the marketing launch Then there was the question of Americans convinced that Japanese cars - always mocked by Detroit as beer cans discarded - could be luxury vehicles.
Jeff Conrad, now senior Acura, Honda was a young employee in the days, watch remote that Honda has created a brand.
It was a risky proposition, no doubt, Conrad said.
Honda was a famous lean organization, the decision to staff a luxury brand meant hiring inside Ed Taylor was usually long hours of Honda national distribution manager of Honda work, he often walked through the conference room late at night when Elliott was sitting working hard on Channel Two.
Taylor had sometimes helped Elliott by schlepping things around the graphics company nearby, so he had a vague idea of what was happening as he left Los Angeles to Tokyo on a two-month training passage in early 1984, Taylor was informed that he would be in charge of a new division when he returned.
Not everyone was for this project, said Taylor, who was named assistant vice president for the job, I was told it's the hill you gotta charge.
Kurt Antonius, Honda spokesperson leader since the early 1980s, remembers his introduction to the new brand.
Cliff pulls me into his office and said, Hey, we're launching a second channel with a car with a V-6 to 20,000, Antonius said that you have to launch the press strategy public relations and the media there were two of us in the whole public relations department that I just about died on the spot.
It was a time before the Japanese embraced auto show splashy displays Honda announced the decision in a press release simple in February 1984.
There was no great advertisement for a car show, Antonius said we didn t even have a brand name yet.
One of the first steps was to hire an advertising agency other than the longtime Honda agency Rubin Postaer RPA was not even allowed to compete for the account Elliott joked that advertising Ketchum won partly account because it met Mexican food at meetings.
They have us in a sweet spot, Elliott said, but they also got what we wanted people to understand that it was a new brand of a respected manufacturer.
The name comes from Ira Bachrach, of NameLab that Elliott described as a linguistics professor nutty, with an office on a barge in the marina of San Francisco NameLab proposed a Latin word Accuratus derivative, meaning, careful, precise, exact.
Acura didn t have a logo that three years after its launch Initially it was a set of widely stretched mechanical calipers, with a transverse beam that made the logo looks more like a M a A tribute to Honda.
But when Munekuni showed Soichiro Honda logo, the founder of the company said that the brackets should be closer together.
Mr. Honda had no problem with the brand having a different name, Elliott said In fact, Mr. Honda regretted putting his name on his car we took the Honda name on all Honda products in the United States around the same time that Acura launched We talked about not putting the name Acura on the car, but it was a brand new, so we had to have it.
Honda still had to convince dealers that the second channel was a profitable business.
It was feared that once we came with the new line, Honda dealers say, Hey, that's a Honda, ship them to me, Taylor said that we should put our emphasis on the separation and identity Mark.
Elliott took the Honda dealerships in Japan Board in 1984 to review the 1986 Honda and Acura models lineups The idea was to demonstrate the separation of the two product lines Dealers were so enthusiastic about the Acura cars when Honda announced only 50 dealers would initially sell the Acura line, there was a frenzy.
In a place like Dallas, we were put in one or two dealers, but a dozen Honda dealers would be one of them, said Elliott.
But even after the body of the concessionaire was selected, it was a race to the finish line The launch date was March 27, 1986, and it was set in stone.
The range included the original midsize sedan Legend and Integra 3-door and 5-door compact coupe Legend follow in spring 1987.
My main memory was that I thought the cars arrive, dealers better be open, Taylor said We designed a book that told the dealers step by step how to build a dealership, including plans they might taken directly to the city building department for permits We made it by the skin of our teeth.
Meanwhile, Acura Research has shown that luxury car buyers were tired of European brands that act as if they were customers a favor by selling them a car Honda has created customer service guidelines for dealers follow from the sales floor to the service unit.
It was out of respect for Honda we took the plunge, said Art Wright, an Acura dealership charter Lehigh Valley, Pa who still holds the franchise They were in a good niche, and margins would be good.
Conrad said the dealers were so grateful to choose their implementation programs unblinking He worked Acura gain industry researcher J D as a service to the Power customers its first four years of operation.
It was the first time the price of the service to the customer Power was handed over, and there was no trophy therefore congratulate Acura, Ketchum has designed a trophy with a stylized game of JD Power calipers loved so much that today adopted the trophy when Lexus, Mercedes or Porsche wins Power survey, they are handed a trophy which is essentially a version of the Acura logo.
Despite an aggressive plan of Honda, just outside of the organization showed great confidence in the strategy on NBC's Today show, Jane Pauley interviewed Schmillen to openly contemptuous sides Volvo S U boss Bjorn Ahlstrom.
Bjorn was an example of what not to do, Antonius said he was slumped in his chair, dressed in white pants and white money, he spent four and a half minutes and still saying that there was no way we could do that Honda has made beautiful, small fuel-efficient cars, but no way could we build a luxury car V-6.
Journalists check the first Acura Integra press event in Palm Springs, California in 1986.
Compared to lavish brand campaigns today launched Honda Acura was cheap, with only two weeks of teaser advertisements before Acura was set.
Frankly, we didn t have time to stop and think, Taylor said that we work day jillion hours, six days a week, with a very modest budget.
And even if Honda had sold cars for decades couple Acura represent first round and drive press conference automaker.
I had to test the airbags in the Legend coupe for the media - twice, Antonius said the Spartan case in Palm Springs I had bruises for weeks but the reaction of the press was very important It was the first reaction out we were on to something.
Not that everything is going well at the launch of Honda executives did not know how luxurious Americans wanted their first Japanese car premium to be the first Legend mix had a large percentage of cloth seats and manual transmissions.
There was much concern about the price, Elliott said he would be much more expensive than any other Japanese car, and we wondered what would be acceptable We quickly found that people did not want a stripped model price -leader.
In 1986, the legend began 19,543, including shipping, but that was with seats manual transmission and fabric that was more than twice the price of Honda Accord yet, opening weekend, rooms Acura exhibition were packed.
People were ready, Wright said they wanted to move a bit, but did not want the price jump Germans, Cadillac and Lincoln at the time, offers the BMW 5 series were straddling 30000 depending on the model, and midrange Mercedes class E, repelled 40,000.
Wright said that customers have acknowledged faith as People love the idea of being involved in something that was new We just took every month has more reality.
Wright said rival traffickers were torn in their feelings.
Half of them we knew we were going to do, and we lose to much money in the case, Wright said the other half hoping we wouldn t do.
Acura unveiled its mid-engine NSX Ferrari as the February 1989 Auto Show in Chicago.
The budget could have been thin, but Honda didn t skimp on engineering V-6 in the legend won rave reviews for its finesse and power, but that was just the beginning.
Despite Honda's We simple philosophy, a third car came within the range that would change the way the world perceives Japanese cars more than legend.
When the NSX supercar debuted at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show, the reaction was unanimous for a Japanese car, he was ahead of his time, said Elliott.
Toyota had the Supra, Nissan 280ZX and Mazda had had the RX-7, but the NSX came from another galaxy.
This was the way to take Honda F1 and experience showing that the technology could be reached in a road car you can drive every day, it was the first car that I drove 170 miles to time, said Elliott.
The construction of the body while lightweight aluminum NSX was revolutionary for its creation was, oversees Takanobu Ito, the man's body NSX, would become Honda Motor current president.
Equally impressive were the titanium connecting rods NSX slot in a motor 3 0 liters, which was the first naturally aspirated engine developing 100 hp per liter It was the best thing that can happen to Ferrari, Antonius said the NSX had an easy clutch and was reliable it was a huge wake-up call the price was 61,000 but it sold 80,000.
The 1986 guide price Acura Would Americans pay as much for a Japanese car.
Once Acura was launched with a full field organization, he always kept his lean Acura had been on the market structure for three years in 1989, while Toyota was still in the launch phase of its corporate rival Lexus Yet Lexus had already more employees.
We didn t have a blank check to do, said Taylor.
Maybe it was the Lexus depth of resources was perhaps Toyota's decision to go to the top of the luxury scale, unlike more modest aspirations Acura Acura But found quickly passed by its Japanese rival.
As Acura lost its customer service crown Lexus toll-spared effort its product vision wandered with the Vigor sedan which began in the early 1990s when the burst of Japan's bubble, worldwide success of the recession, dollar swooned against the yen Honda Motor, it seemed, was paying less attention to its luxury brand in America alone.
As Acura struggled in the 1990s, he took the controversial decision to dump its nameplate products for a decision - Alphanumeric still challenged by Acura fanatics and university business.
Public recognition model names was higher than the Acura itself, and we wanted we wanted the Acura perceived to be higher, Elliott said elsewhere, all Europeans have, like Lexus and Infiniti.
I do not think we have trouble Alphanumeric I'm not sure how much it's helped, but not bad na, says Elliott seems to confuse the press sometimes, but it strengthens Acura.
As luxury brands moved further upward, Acura has finally decided to imitate its competitors by developing a V-8 engine and rear-wheel drive platform But on the eve of the connection project off in 2008, the collapse of Lehman Brothers trigged the collapse of the global economy financial markets Ito President Honda, killed the program, and a rebirth of its own NSX.
In a new luxury era of thought, and with a premium on energy efficiency, Acura can be positioned with its positioning of intelligent luxury, small engines and front wheel drive.
The world has changed a few years ago, Conrad said Are we remorseful didn something else, something more, we're not to produce what the customer wants today.
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