Acura would
really like to gain some enthusiast credibility and make good on the brand's
performance claims. Hence the return of the Type S performance badge, applied
here on the Acura Type S sports-sedan concept.
This new concept car certainly looks the part. The
proportions are stunning. There's an elegance to the design, which is clean and
without extraneous affectation. Even Acura's "Diamond Pentagon"
grille is nicely integrated and tastefully done. In profile, there's more than
a little bit of Audi A7. The striking blue color, called Double Apex Blue
Pearl, is said to hark back to a hue offered on the 2007–2008 TL Type S.
The Type S concept closely previews the next-generation TLX mid-size sedan, which we've already
seen in rendered form thanks to leaked images found within Acura's own
infotainment system. While the new TLX will almost certainly have a
transversely mounted engine, both the concept and the leaked images show us
that Acura is working on giving the car a longer dash-to-axle ratio, a design
often characteristic of luxury cars with longitudinally mounted engines. We
also expect that the concept's taillight and headlight designs will appear on
the production car, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the quad exhaust tips also
make the transition to reality.
Acura confirmed last year that it will bring back
the Type S badge previously applied to performance versions of the TL, CL, and
RSX in the 2000s. It seems that the TLX will be the first production Acura to
revive this treatment. A turbocharged V-6 is said to be in the cards, although
no specs are available yet.
Acura has yet to confirm timing for the
next-generation TLX, but we'd wager that it will arrive in about a year as a
2021 model. If it looks like this concept, it just might draw more than a few
buyers from the SUVs in Acura's showroom.
