26 Jan Why Acura’s Precision Concept Doesn’t Suck

A concept car you actually care about.

By Aaron Bonk
Photos courtesy of American Honda

It’s been almost three weeks since Acura unveiled its Precision Concept at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show, but it didn’t take us that long at all to come to the conclusion that this particular concept, indeed, does not suck.

Acura introducing its Precision Concept at Detroit's 2016 North American International Auto Show.

Concept cars, at best, raise false hopes yet almost always do the opposite. Like the P-NUT, for example, the design study concept car that Honda developed for the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show, which is short for Personal Neo Urban Transport, and which is exactly why you’re thankful that, most of the time, concepts remain nothing more than life-size models that ultimately get shelved.

Concept cars rarely result in something you'd hoped for. Case in point: the P-NUT.

Except when they’re done right. Like the CL concept developed in the mid-1990s that would fit in nicely right here in 2016 but ultimately led the way toward the Accord-like Acura coupe that you either hate or forgot existed.

Acura's CL concept developed in the mid-1990s was everything that was right about what a concept car ought to be and then abandoned for the actual CL that got produced.

The Precision Concept, however, just might be different. According to the people at Acura, it represents no single car that the company’s planning on releasing but rather a vision of what Acura ought to mean to car buyers from now on. In other words, key elements like the Precision Concept’s diamond-shaped grille and lights with their fractal-like constellations embedded inside will likely be found across the board, both of which we’d be entirely okay with.

Acura's Precision Concept represents no single car that you'll ever be able to buy but rather a vision of what Acura will end up meaning to you in the near future.

It turns out that the Precision Concept’s exterior design team was led by Michelle Christensen, who played the same role for the forthcoming NSX and is precisely why supercar cues can be found throughout the concept. In fact, Christensen’s already made it quite clear that trickling NSX design elements down the model lineup is something that’s been planned for some time, and isn’t a whole lot different than what happened with the original NSX (think: ’98-’03 Accord coupe taillights).

And what it means to you—if this view is any indication—is a lineup of cars that you'll actually want to own.

Out of all of the concept’s elements, it’s the grille that Acura says will make its way across most of the brand’s products, though. They call it the “diamond pentagon,” which sounds and looks a whole lot better than the big ol’ beak the Internet’s come to despise so. The concept also points to future models that’ll be lower and wider than what Acura’s currently offering, featuring more muscular fenders as well as longer wheelbases that mean longer hood lines, which, according to the people at Acura, will help suggest that there’s something quite powerful underneath the hood. Here’s to hoping that the idea of a bigger, more powerful engine doesn’t stop at a suggestion.

The concept also points to a future made up of lower and wider platforms than what Acura's currently got as well as more muscular fenders, longer wheelbases, longer hood lines, and the hint of powertrains with the sort of juice you'd expect from something that looks like this.