Acura Automobiles: Executive Remarks from the SEMA 2015 Acura Press Conference

Jon Ikeda – Vice President and General Manager, Acura Division:

Good afternoon everyone. Let’s just say I love coming to SEMA.

This is by far the car enthusiast capital of the world, and it’s great to be back in my new role leading the Acura Division, and I’m going to say that it is a very exciting time in the history of our brand.

This is SEMA, so we’re going to have some fun today with a couple of vehicles our team had a lot of joy creating and that demonstrate the important role of styling, in delivering on our core Acura DNA – “Precision Crafted Performance.”

Of course, the truly pinnacle representation of Precision Crafted Performance is the next-gen Acura NSX, which is on display here today in a beautiful Nouvelle Blue Pearl. Yes, that is a production color, one that you might recall debuting right here at SEMA last year on the highly modified TLX from Galpin. So you never know, what you see at SEMA, where it might turn up next.

NSX is more than an incredibly dynamic supercar. It is the only supercar currently to be developed and manufactured right here in the United States, and when it goes on sale next spring, the NSX will be a true flagship product in the Acura lineup.

Today, however, we want to turn the spotlight on a couple of really interesting projects that, like the NSX, were spearheaded by Acura’s U.S. design team in California. We’ve got a few very cool ideas from the past and the future of Acura to share with you today, and as you well know, SEMA is a great platform for that.

This is the place where people from all corners of the car business can come together and share their wild and crazy dreams. That’s why Acura keeps coming back every year with new expressions of our passion for performance and customizing as core elements of the Acura experience. Performance and customizing is in our heritage, and will remain as a focal point in our brand into the future. So, let’s get to it.

We have the privilege of showing you two cars with somewhat of a shared purpose. Both pay homage to the incredible passion and loyalty of one of our longtime Acura customers, an award-winning musical artist, actor and entrepreneur by the name of Ludacris, and I’ve asked Dave Marek to fill you in on all the details. Dave is not only passionate about performance cars; he’s the Global Creative Director for the Acura brand. So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, Mr. Dave Marek.

Dave Marek – Global Creative Director, Acura:

Thanks, Jon. At Acura, we are creating products that speak with an even stronger voice to the core values and challenging spirit of Acura, and that is performance.

But performance is not just about the powertrain. We have to show performance in the way our vehicles are styled. That means low and wide design, wider wheels and tires and exposed exhaust tips. You will see and hear more about this direction in the coming months.

But we can show you a hint of it now. Because today is a celebration of one man’s strong affinity for the Acura brand, and how it symbolizes the kind of passion and loyalty that we really want every Acura owner to feel. I mean he put his Acura Legend on the cover of an album.

We met Ludacris and his family back in January at the Detroit Auto Show. And that started a conversation, and when we learned that his beloved 93 Legend Sedan had been involved in an accident, and that his insurance company was prepared to total it, we decided we needed to do something to keep it off the scrap heap. Honestly, with or without us, Chris was determined to hang on to this car.

So we took up the challenge of restoring his Legend to its original glory, and maybe tune it a little. It’s rare for an OEM RD team to fix someone’s personal car. But it was a fun project, both to reward Chris’ loyalty and to give him an understanding of how RD works.

To try and put a car like this into original condition is a major deal in itself. It took us to scrap yards, visits to body and frame repair shops, interior restoration experts, and into our own fabrication shop in California. It was kind of a Humpty Dumpty story, but this time, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men were able to put it back together again.

Chris had never customized his Legend, and we had total respect for that. He was okay with just a restoration, but we wanted to up the ante a bit, and so did he. So we took a few liberties that aren’t exactly a back-to-factory-spec approach.

Now, we could have stopped there, but we wanted to have some more fun, while maintaining our close ties with Chris, and connecting the relationship to our current product lineup.

It also so happens he started The Ludacris Foundation to do legendary good in the community. So we thought it would be fun to create another project car, one that we’re donating to the foundation for one lucky recipient who is also doing legendary work within the community.

You already saw the teaser image for this one, and it’s the second year in a row that we’ve partnered with Galpin Auto Sports for the SEMA show. This time around, we chose an ILX sedan for customization, in part to celebrate the tremendous upgrades we’ve made to the 2016 Acura ILX, in styling, feature-content, and powertrain with it’s new 200 horsepower i-VTEC engine and 8-speed DCT.

Let’s take a look at how we brought both of these projects to life, to create a truly “Legendary Duo.”

[Reveal of Restored 1993 “Ludacris Legend” sedan and sport-modified 2016 Acura ILX by Galpin Auto Sports]

I would call the Legend a mild custom, again, respecting the nostalgia aspect that Ludacris loves about his car. But we wanted to bring the performance factor up.
So in addition to the frame, body and chassis work we went plus two on the wheel size and lowered the car two-inches. All to ensure the Legend continues to be an enjoyable ride for Chris for years to come.

We also added a little diamond dust to the exterior, with a custom color we mixed up in our own fabrication shop called Warm Cashmere. This champagne gold is just a cool color that we felt would really resonate with our customer. It’s a three-step process with a colored primer, a pearlescent layer, and then a clear topcoat.

Inside, we’ve worked to bring it back to factory spec, but again with a few special touches. It’s Ludacris, so we wanted to put in a really kick-ass sound system. I hope you noticed that subwoofer in the trunk, just in case he plans to create some new songs in his studio Legend.

We also worked closely with Galpin on the ILX, living proof that the ILX is a great platform for the aftermarket. We lowered the body by two inches. There’s a new custom front bumper, chin spoiler, rear diffusers, and custom twin Borla exhaust pipes, all from our friends at Galpin.

There are 19-inch, matte brushed smoked finished wheels, one-size up from stock, wrapped in Pirelli run-flats.

We also wanted to make a clear connection between this custom ILX and Chris’s Legend. So we drew on the same gold color palette with Sunburst Yellow using a three-stage candy paint process. And we’ve carried this color theme into the stitched elements of the cabin, the seats, steering wheel, door panels and center console.

We had a lot of fun with this car; again, demonstrating how you can show performance through styling, a commitment I guarantee will be a hallmark of future Acura design.

And it all came home for us when our customer, Ludacris, embraced both of these vehicles.

Thank you.

 

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