Who Makes Acura, And Is It The Same As Honda?

Acura is the luxury and performance division of Honda. Its creation was announced in 1984 and it began operating in America in 1986 with 60 dealers spread across 18 states. Acura has the distinction of being the first Japanese luxury brand to be established in the U.S. It started out with two cars to sell — the  Acura Integra, and the Acura Legend sedan.

Acura finished its first year in business with 52,869 vehicles sold. It closed out the year with an increased dealer count of 150 dealerships in 36 states, serving the top 50 metro markets. In 1987, both Toyota and Nissan announced their plans to create similar luxury performance divisions, which would become the Lexus and Infiniti brands.

To understand where Acura stands in the marketplace, it's important to know that Acura is not a manufacturer, it is a brand. Acura vehicles are sold only in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama and Kuwait. Many Acura vehicles are available in other parts of the world as Honda-branded cars and SUVs. This includes the Acura NSX supercar, which has been sold in non-Acura markets as the Honda NSX.

While Acura and Honda occupy different positions in the marketplace, many of their vehicles are similar under the skin. The differences between them come down to styling, the amount of luxury features built into them, and their selling prices. Honda is more of a mass-market brand, so their cars are more basic and priced lower. 

Acuras are more upscale and come equipped with more luxury features and technology. Acura also provides a more upscale consumer experience. But there is some overlap between the higher-priced Hondas and the lower-priced Acuras that allows for some cross-shopping by consumers.

The Integra and Legend cars that Acura started out with were actually rebranded Hondas, and many current Acura models share their platforms with Hondas. One example is the Acura MDX SUV, which shares its engine and platform with the Honda Pilot. The Civic and the current Integra sedan also share one. So do the Acura TLX and the Honda Accord sedans. Even the recently released pair of EVs, the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX, share a GM-based Ultium platform. This all makes perfect sense from a production volume standpoint.