A recent brand perception survey in Consumer Reports (via Reuters) sent shock waves through luxury car makers when Acura was listed in the bottom three, right there with dogs like Mercury and Mitsubishi. If Mitsubishi didn’t have the Evo, I think people might start thinking they only sell TVs. Don’t even get me started on Mercury.So what does this tell us about the problems facing Acura in the marketplace? Well, for one, Acura occupies a price sector in the luxury market that everyone else has given up. It offers what it likes to call a “near luxury” experience even though to my eyes it offers all the same features of an “overpriced luxury” brand like Lexus.
The problem with being a “value” luxury brand is that buying that car doesn’t tell the neighbors you have loads and loads of cash. Which, to be honest, is often times the whole reason someone picks a Mercedes C-class over the larger, faster, cheaper and better built Acura TL.
So should Acura play follow the leaders and start charging more for their vehicles? They can’t really start charging more for options since most of their vehicles come one way, fully loaded. The only choice you have when buying an Acura is whether or not you want a navigator, a unit that is so easy to use an 8 year old could figure it out.
An editorial in The Truth About Cars made the suggestion that Acura was suffering the effects of sharing platforms with more plebian Honda models. For example, the MDX is based on the Honda Pilot platform but has a unique interior and exterior. And what exactly is wrong with sharing Honda mechanicals?
The sort of platform sharing that Honda/Acura excels at is done in a way that American car makers have never managed to figure out in their schizophrenic lineups. A Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan share a platform, an interior and pretty much everything except a grille and some logos. That is no way to sell what was once intended to be an American “near-luxury” brand.
Back to the perception, or lack thereof, of Acura in the luxury and sporting end of the car market. I may be a little biased on the merits of Acura as a brand and an experience as both of my parents drive new Acura models. After years of owning expensive European cars from the likes of Mercedes, Jaguar and Range Rover, I recommended to my father that he have a look at a 1999 Acura TL with navigation.
He was wowed by the features, the price and the snooty dealership experience that was conspicuous by its absence. He has now owned two Acura TL models and my mom is on her second MDX, as well. In 9 years of Acura ownership they have never experienced a fault or breakdown. I think they may have replaced a battery once.
Even if Acura is low in this “perception” survey, it routinely comes near the top in dealer service and vehicle quality surveys. And isn’t that what really matters? Didn’t your mother ever tell you, it isn’t what people think of you that matters, it is the quality of your actions? The Acura ownership experience, while not well known, is by no means lacking in that virtue.
As an aside, who says surveys really tell you anything about what the entire populace is feeling? This perception survey in Consumer Reports was responded to by a whole 1790 people. Wow! Sounds like we need a few more consumers to, ahem, report before we send out the perception police.
via guest blogger Jim Hamel
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