Acura was the first of the spinoff luxury brands from a Japanese automaker. Honda, which spun it off, did everything just right: Franchise laws prevented the opening of new Honda dealerships too close to existing ones. By creating a new nameplate (Acura), it was able to open more dealerships in the profitable urban areas, where Honda already had considerable strength, and to ignore the areas less likely to buy imports. The upscale positioning of Acura was good for Honda's entire image. In 1994, just over 1 million Acuras were sold, with the Acura Legend representing the majority.
Car models
From the 1986–1995 model years, all Acura vehicles were either hatchbacks, coupes or sedans, before the first SUV was introduced as a 1996 model.
1986-1995
| 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acura Integra RS 2DR Hatchback | Acura Integra RS 2DR Coupe | ||||||||
| Acura Integra RS 4DR Hatchback | Acura Integra RS 4DR Sedan | ||||||||
| Acura Integra LS 2DR Hatchback | Acura Integra LS 2DR Coupe | ||||||||
| Acura Integra LS 4DR Hatchback | Acura Integra LS 4DR Sedan | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura Integra SE 2DR Coupe | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura Integra SE 4DR Sedan | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura Integra LS Special 2DR Hatchback | N/A | Acura Integra GS 2DR Hatchback | Acura Integra GS-R 2DR Coupe | |||||
| N/A | Acura Integra GS 4DR Sedan | Acura Integra GS-R 4DR Sedan | |||||||
| N/A | Acura Integra GS-R 2DR Hatchback | N/A | |||||||
| N/A | Acura Vigor LS 4DR Sedan | N/A | |||||||
| N/A | Acura Vigor GS 4DR Sedan | N/A | |||||||
| Acura Legend 4DR Sedan | N/A | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura Legend 2DR Coupe | N/A | |||||||
| N/A | Acura Legend L 4DR Sedan | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura Legend L 2DR Coupe | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura Legend SE 4DR Sedan | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura Legend LS 4DR Sedan | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura Legend LS 2DR Coupe | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura Legend GS 4DR Sedan | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura NSX 2DR Coupe | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura NSX-T 2DR Coupe | ||||||||
1995-2004
| 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acura Integra RS 2DR Coupe | N/A | ||||||||
| Acura Integra RS 4DR Sedan | N/A | ||||||||
| Acura Integra LS 2DR Coupe | Acura RSX 2DR Coupe | ||||||||
| Acura Integra LS 4DR Sedan | N/A | ||||||||
| Acura Integra SE 2DR Coupe | Acura Integra GS 2DR Coupe | N/A | |||||||
| Acura Integra SE 4DR Sedan | Acura Integra GS 4DR Sedan | N/A | |||||||
| Acura Integra GS-R 2DR Coupe | Acura RSX Type-S 2DR Coupe | ||||||||
| Acura Integra GS-R 4DR Sedan | N/A | Acura TSX 4DR Sedan | |||||||
| N/A (successor of 1994 Acura Vigor) | Acura TL 2.5L 4DR Sedan | N/A | |||||||
| N/A | Acura CL 2.2L 2DR Coupe | Acura CL 2.3L 2DR Coupe | N/A | ||||||
| Acura Legend L 4DR Sedan | Acura TL 3.2L 4DR Sedan | N/A | |||||||
| Acura Legend L 2DR Coupe | N/A | Acura CL 3.0L 2DR Coupe | N/A | Acura CL 3.2L 2DR Coupe | N/A | ||||
| Acura Legend LS 4DR Sedan | Acura RL (3.5L) 4DR Sedan | ||||||||
| Acura Legend LS 2DR Coupe | N/A | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura TL Type-S 4DR Sedan | Acura TL 4DR Sedan | |||||||
| Acura Legend SE 4DR Sedan | N/A | Acura RL Special Edition 4DR Sedan | N/A | ||||||
| Acura Legend GS 4DR Sedan | N/A | ||||||||
| Acura NSX 2DR Coupe | N/A | ||||||||
| Acura NSX-T 2DR Coupe | Acura NSX 2DR Coupe | ||||||||
| N/A | Acura SLX 4DR 4WD Sport Utility | N/A | Acura MDX 4DR 4WD Sport Utility | ||||||
Sales
| Calendar year | Integra | Legend | NSX | Vigor | TL | SLX | RL | CL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 64,755 | 65,689 | 1,940 | 11,324 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1992 | 55,174 | 49,926 | 1,154 | 13,846 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1993 | 58,757 | 38,866 | 652 | 10,016 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1994 | 67,426 | 35,709 | 533 | 8,469 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1995 | 61,316 | 18,259 | 884 | 253 | 16,539 | 200 | N/A | N/A |
| 1996 | 46,966 | 629 | 460 | 0 | 24,700 | 2,565 | 15,848 | 16,740 |
| 1997 | 38,331 | 4 | 415 | 0 | 23,151 | 1,299 | 16,004 | 28,939 |
| 1998 | 34,904 | 0 | 303 | 0 | 31,883 | 1,634 | 15,024 | 26,644 |
| 1999 | 26,184 | 0 | 238 | 0 | 56,566 | 694 | 13,366 | 20,968 |
The last 198 units of the 1999 SLX were sold in 2000.