Although this is the first luxury brand created by a Japanese manufacturer, Acura was the last to enter China and is now also the first to depart.
Citing Chinese media, China Car News reports that the company has informed dealers that the brand will be leaving the country in 2023.
Honda and GAC – one of Honda’s two local joint venture partners – formed GAC Acura in 2016, with a domestic range of two models not available in North America: the CDX, a redesigned version. and reassemble. Honda HR-WORLDand the long-wheelbase TLX-L sedan.
Other models offered by the brand shortly include CR-VAT-size RDX and made in the USA NSX supercar.
At its peak in 2018, Acura sold only 14,701 vehicles in China. Last year, it managed more than 6000 cars, barely rounding up in a country of 26.3 million cars sold.
Existing employees are expected to be transferred to GAC Honda, where more employees will be deployed to help launch a new sales channel focused on upcoming Honda electric models.
With Acura about to exit China, the brand will have an even smaller foothold, mainly encompassing the US, Canada, Mexico, Panama and Kuwait.
Acura is not the first luxury car brand to be established in North America to try its luck in the Chinese market.
Cadillac entered China in 2004, Lexus followed a year later. Ford’s Lincoln brand set up shop in 2014, and like Cadillac now sells more cars in China than it does in its home country.
Just as Acura is about to leave China, Nissan’s Infiniti brand is trying to gain a better footing in the world’s most populous country with domestic production of the QX60 set to begin later this year.
