Next year, Acura will retire the TLX sedan after a decade in the US, including the sporty Type S variant—a charming performance model, if somewhat underrated. In 2022, the brand also ended production of the NSX sports car following its brief revival. That leaves just one “car” in Acura’s current lineup: The Integra.
Fortunately, that won’t be the case for long. Speaking with Road & Track during Monterey Car Week, Honda’s Chief Officer for Automobile Operations, Katsushi Inoue, emphasized that sedans and sports cars still play an important role in the Acura brand.
Inoue stated:
'We still believe that SUVs are important for the mainstream business, however ... in order to differentiate from other companies, we need to do that kind of thing: a production sporty body … The shape might be changed from time to time, right? Coupe, sedan ... but we believe that we need to maintain that kind of body shape. The SUV is not everything.'
Acura TLX Type S
This statement comes at a time when Acura is reviving one of its most iconic nameplates in the form of an electric SUV: The RSX. Debuting as a prototype during Monterey Car Week, the RSX ditches the ZDX’s Ultium platform for Honda’s brand-new, in-house EV base—the first vehicle to do so.
The RSX will be built alongside the Integra at Honda’s Marysville, Ohio, manufacturing plant, effectively replacing the now-discontinued TLX sedan. It's expected to go on sale sometime in 2026.
This latest report from Road & Track supports earlier statements from last year, when executives hinted at a new sports car slated for production in 2027 or 2028. However, with the recent industry-wide slowdown in EV development, it’s unclear whether that battery-powered coupe is still in active development.
New Acura RSX Prototype
Former Executive Vice President and COO Shinji Aoyama told Motor1:
'We are going to introduce a [new] sports model in 2027 or 2028. We may not call it an NSX, but it's kind of an NSX-type of vehicle.'
If Honda and Acura move forward with the so-called “NSX-type” sports car, it would likely use the same battery technology and platform found in the new RSX. Originally introduced on the 0 Series concept cars, this next-generation EV architecture is designed to be “thin and light,” according to the company, with a focus on efficiency.
More details are expected in 2026.
