Honda has filed to trademark ADX with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), presumably so it can use the name for an upcoming luxury model. While Honda has previously sold vehicles with alphanumeric monikers ending in the letter X, that’s literally Acura’s entire lineup and it’s supposed to be delivering a few new models to round out its rather limited selection.
Car and Driver, which initially shared the trademark news, speculated that the name could be used for the electric vehicle General Motors will be building for Honda Motor Co. We already know the Honda variant will be named Prologue, so there would be room for a prospective Acura ADX.
Both EVs are said to be manufactured by GM using its Ultium battery platform. But the Honda Prologue coming together at the Ramos Arizpe facility in Mexico in 2023, whereas the Acura model will be moving down the assembly line in Spring Hill, Tennessee, sometime in 2024. That should provide sufficient time for Honda to work with the USPTO to get the ADX name in order and have the necessary badging manufactured and shipped so it can be slapped on the back of the (so far as we know) midsized crossover.
Though there’s nothing guaranteeing the name actually gets used. Honda might simply like the way ADX sounds and wants to retain ownership in case it needs it for something else. There’s nothing prohibiting its luxury arm from attaching the moniker to other vehicle types, Car and Driver just noted that the EVs are on the docket and that the Acura version is as-of-yet unnamed:
Nevertheless, if we were the gambling type, we wager Acura pins the ADX name to its forthcoming electric SUV that’s due to be built by General Motors. Despite it likely sharing a platform, powertrain, and battery pack(s) with other GM EVs that use the company’s Ultium battery-electric vehicle bits, the electric Acura SUV still ought to wear distinct exterior and interior decor that reflects the luxury brand’s current design language.
Likewise, we believe Acura’s electric SUV will share few — if any — body panels with its Honda-badged kin that GM is also set to build for the Japanese automaker. Whereas Acura’s yet to formally reveal the name of its GM-built electric SUV, Honda confirmed its variant will sport the Prologue designation.
Considering that it’s nearly 2022, Honda Motor Co. probably won’t leave us guessing for much longer. The product in question has already been confirmed and it’s just a matter of time before the monthly teasers begin. Acura is going to need to have its upcoming EV named by then, as there’s not much marketing value in having the press continue calling it the “upcoming EV.”
[Image: Acura]
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With those initials, it’s gotta be a luxified version of the next HR-V, to slot below the RDX and compete with the Lexus UX, BMW X2, Benz GLA, et al. That’s a hateful segment but people are buying in it for some reason so you can’t blame Honda.
Yes I can, and I hope it flops.
The Acura, regardless of alphabet soup of letters, will be a XTS size similar to the Cadillac Lyriq. Both will be built in Springhill, TN.
I doubt that Acura will be called “ADX.” I suspect it will have a name.
“I suspect it will have a name.”
Unpossible, people don’t like names according to the industry experts. /s
I would like to see an electric vehicle with a manual transmission and mechanical speedometer/odometer, and crank windows. It could be called the Analogue.
After all, why do electric cars have to be futuristic, and even uglier that what we already have? An electric reproduction Jaguar XK-E would sell like gangbusters, and the manufacturer wouldn’t have to come up with random letters that haven’t been trademarked already.
Sales would be much, much higher if a customer walks into the showroom, looks at the car and says, “That’s F*****g awesome!” instead of “Uh… no thank you.”
Because a significant portion of today’s “adults” are still children, so everything they design will be futuristic and video gamey. My father told me thirty years ago how he saw the Army prototyping joysticks for gunners to use at the time in Vietnam, really blew his mind. Look at today, they were doing this fifty plus years ago.
I also agree wholeheartedly on the reproduction stuff, though the mfg costs are too high for such a thing today though or someone would have done it by now.
Not all EVs look futuristic.
Using a manual transmission would add cost and complexity, and reduce reliability acceleration, and range.
Crank windows? When is the last time you saw that, or had power windows fail?
“Using a manual transmission would add cost and complexity, and reduce reliability acceleration, and range.”
I do agree that it would add cost and complexity, and might possibly reduce reliability, but a 2 speed transmission actually increases acceleration and range. That is the reason VW uses a 2sp in the Taycan and E-tron. Granted those are “automatic” and not manual.
Tesla even uses the concept by having different gear ratios in their front and rear drive units and uses the one with the “high” gear for the majority of the power delivery at higher speeds.
“had power windows fail”
My C70 MK1 is known to break its window regulators and I purchased it with one already broken. Outside of that model, while perhaps more uncommon than yesteryear, fuses, switches and regulators will eventually require remediation – but by the time it happens the examples may have already been recycled. Perhaps that is your overall point?
The parts of power windows that fail tend to be the parts that also exist in manual windows (e.g., regulators, controls).
I rented a sh!tty Chevy Express cube truck from U-Haul the other day. The window crank came off in my hand. Haven’t ever had that happen with a power window system.
I have a CL and TL, both cars had window problems.
Why would I buy a new Honda? If I want an unreliable vehicle I will get a VW.
Hilarious – first, they pick “RDX”, which is a plastic explosive. Now it’s “ADX”, like the Federal Supermax prison ADX Florence in Colorado, which houses people like Ramzi Yousef, Ted Kaczynski, Terry Nichols, and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Good going, Acura.
@dukeisduke: Don’t forget Honda with Human Rhino Virus or HRV:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3553670/
Wow – that’s a who’s who of baddies.
“Integra” was a good name. Oh well.
ADX made me think “airport code” and indeed there is one:
https://airportguide.com/airport/info/ADX
“Now it’s “ADX”, like the Federal Supermax prison ADX Florence in Colorado”
Hopefully the model won’t be… a penalty box…