Acura dealers envision a turnaround now that the brand has cemented its five-vehicle lineup and has another model, the NSX supercar, on the way. Though sales for Acura's trucks rose 13 percent through December, with the three-row MDX utility vehicle the brand's volume leader, car sales fell 15 percent over the same period, underscoring the brand's vanilla image in the luxury segment.
That should change with the introduction last August of the sporty TLX midsize sedan, which replaced the TL and TSX, and the arrival early this year of the redesigned ILX entry-level sedan, whose styling and new powertrain should boost weak sales since its 2012 introduction. The new sedans and the continued popularity of the MDX and smaller RDX will help Acura capture share as the luxury market grows over the next three years.
Next, dealers want to see Acura add flair with sporty, eye-catching derivatives of its core lineup, according to John Connelly, 43, chairman of the Acura National Dealer Advisory Board and president of Acura Columbus in Dublin, Ohio. He spoke with Staff Reporter Jaclyn Trop.
Q. How was 2014 for Acura dealers?
A. It's fantastic the amount of new product we've received. We're selling sedans, and the MDX and the RDX have been performing well. Acura dealers are very excited.
What major issues do Acura dealers face?
We want to keep selling more cars and increase our volume. Just getting a steady supply of sedans and the redesigned ILX is going to be a big boost to our lineup.
What's missing in the product lineup?
The plan was to get our core set of models down -- the entry-level ILX and then the TLX and the RLX, as well as the MDX and RDX, and then from that point, to have derivatives. We would like to see a coupe derivative, convertibles, appearance packages. You have your core, and then you have to have your fun, sporty, eye-catching cars, so that's what we need to have. It helps bring cachet to the brand. It helps break through. Those models may not be high volume, but they capture the imagination of customers. A good coupe off the ILX could attract millennials and tuners, for example. We also need more all-wheel-drive vehicles.
What do you hope to accomplish as chairman of the dealer council?
What I'm looking for is for dealers to be able to work with the manufacturer, to have the same plan and the same vision. Luxury sales are supposed to increase 15 percent by 2018. We need to capture that. Sales for 2014, while good, have remained fairly flat. We need to see the same increase [15 percent] that Audi saw in 2014. Acura needs to realize that in 2015.
The quarterly Blue Sky report showed that Acura and Cadillac profits are consistently low among luxury dealers. What are Acura dealers doing about this?
We need to show consistency and that we have what consumers want. But it took time for Acura to retool and to get a set lineup of vehicles. I'm really anticipating that the introduction of the NSX will bring a cachet to the brand. We've done exceptionally well with our trucks.
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS: What do dealers want to see from Acura?
JOHN CONNELLY: The RDX and MDX both have done very well in their class, but we needed a high-volume sedan to even out the lineup and contribute to our future success as a brand.
For the rest of the article, follow the link below;
http://www.autonews.com/article/20150122/RETAIL06/301239990/with-acuras-core-models-set-its-time-to-have-fun
No comments:
Post a Comment