Acura Boxes

"This thing solves the convertible problem, the sports-car problem, the all-wheel drive problem," says Herb Bornack, as reported by Joseph B. White in the Wall Street Journal (4/28/10). The "thing" to which Herb is referring is his new Acura ZDX. Herb, who is 55, had been driving a Porsche Boxster, "but he and his wife wanted a sporty vehicle that also had all-wheel drive, an automatic transmission and a higher, SUV-style seating position."

What it doesn’t have is much "rearward visibility," because of the ZDX’s "fastback roof line." Nor does it have much legroom in the back, but that doesn’t matter because Herb, who is six-foot-one, "is not sitting back there." The ZDX is what Acura calls a "four-door sports coupe." It also calls the ZDX a "segment buster" in that it "doesn’t fit into the mainstream categories most consumers recognize."

Most cars "are boxes on wheels" but the ZDX is all "swoopy and curvy" and "attempts … to break out of the tyranny of boxes" with a design that’s both sporty and functional. BMW is on a similar path with its X6. Both cars are "low-volume niche vehicles designed for people who don’t want to act their age." In other words, Acura and BMW sell only about 5,000 of these cars per year, mostly to Baby Boomers. They manage the small production runs by sharing "hardware and engineering" with their other, mass-market models.