Yahoo Autos New 2022 Acura MDX platform to underpin future Hondas
The 2022 Acura MDX introduces a new platform to the Acura and Honda lineup called the Global Light Truck Platform, and it's currently exclusive to the MDX. The new 2021 Acura TLX is also built on a totally new platform that isn’t shared with any other Honda or Acura. Going further back, when the redesigned 2019 RDX debuted, Acura said that model was built on “a new-from-the-ground-up, Acura-exclusive platform."
That’s three totally-new and Acura-exclusive platforms in a short time period, and it got us thinking. What is Acura up to here?
Most manufacturers these days are increasingly going in the exact opposite direction. Volkswagen’s MQB architecture underpins everything from the hot hatch GTI to the gigantic Atlas. Toyota’s TNGA platform has multiple sizes/versions, but Toyota still considers them related and will tell you that TNGA is the basis of cars from the Corolla on up to the Highlander, plus the Lexus UX and ES. You can find similar stories all across the industry, in both luxury and non-luxury brands. Acura, on the other hand, appears to be taking a totally different approach.
To get some clarity on strategy, we reached out to Acura. The answers are multifaceted, but Acura says it's spending money where it pays dividends for performance — but there's also more sharing between models than it might look like on the surface.
“The definition of what constitutes a 'common platform' varies by automaker,” Acura exclusively told Autoblog during a wide-ranging e-mail interview involving the input of numerous engineers and product planners. “For us, the most fundamental value is to maintain the same carry points throughout production and enable us to produce different vehicles in the same manufacturing environment.”
As an example, the TLX and RDX feature similar carry points in the chassis to enable their production on the same line, but that’s where the two diverge.
“The TLX is different in that it has a bespoke platform that is not shared with any other Acura or Honda vehicle,” Acura says. “This approach was adopted to meet the high dynamic targets [for the Type S], and unique powertrain [the 3.0T V6] and drivetrain applications [SH-AWD] that required a different platform from the Accord.”
