This Acura Electric Vision Concept Has Us Dreaming Of An NSX EV
Acura may have brought its surprisingly-normal 2024 ZDX electric SUV to Monterey Car Week for its debut, but Honda's performance-obsessed sibling brand couldn't help tease something even more exciting. The Acura Electric Vision Design Study is, as the name suggests, a preview of just what sort of sports EV the Japanese automaker has in mind for the future.
For any Acura fan, that likely brings to mind one specific nameplate: NSX. The automaker isn't saying that the Electric Vision is indeed a new, all-EV version of the recently-retired NSX, but neither is it outright denying that.
Acura
What we do know is that the shapely coupe is the handiwork of the Acura Design Studio in Los Angeles. With its swooping roofline and bulging wheel arches, it looks more like a movie concept car than anything destined for the road. Throw in lashings of neon green lighting and pin-striping, and you've got something genuinely unusual.
A tease, not an NSX promise
The result, Acura teases, "further explores the future evolution of Precision Crafted Performance design language as the performance brand transitions to a zero-emissions future." In short, we might not want to pin our hopes on the Electric Vision making it to local Acura dealerships just as-is, but that doesn't mean elements of the design study won't show up in future models from the company.
We've seen that happen in the past, to excellent effect. The Acura Precision Concept was the automaker's reboot of "Precision Crafted Performance" and the design language to go with it; it spawned the outsized shield-esque grilles and bold surface sculpting of production models like the Integra Type S.
Acura
Just where that leaves Acura's production plans for a sports coupe, however, is unclear. The NSX's retirement leaves a conspicuous hole in the Acura line-up, though whether it's to be filled by an all-electric two-door remains to be seen. After all, Acura's first electric vehicle — the 2024 ZDX and ZDX Type S — will be based not on the automaker's own EV architecture, but the Ultium platform it has inked a deal with GM to use.