Acura Precision EV Idea Debuts Model’s Sharp Type For Electrical Future
Monterey Automotive Week, as soon as identified just for fabulous vintage collector vehicles, is quick changing into a showcase for future design and expertise. Amongst this yr’s highlights is the Acura Precision EV idea, an SUV-shaped design research that previews a few of the styling cues we are able to count on from the corporate’s first electrical car, as a result of arrive in 2024.
Taking its title from the idea that gave us a peek at present design themes manner again in 2016, the Acura Precision EV takes the type of a two-row crossover that appears a bit bigger than the present RDX. In contrast to the novel 2016 Precision sedan idea that ushered in a complete new really feel for Acura merchandise, this EV seems to be acquainted from the skin – although it’s clear designers massaged the model’s present design language for an all-electric future.
That’s plainly evident within the “Diamond Pentagon” entrance finish, though it’s now not a conventional radiator grille. As a substitute, the entrance panel illuminates in a soft-glow, tessellated sample, with just a little welcome illumination that begins on the signature Acura caliper badge earlier than increasing outward towards the headlights. The illuminated grille panel additionally contains little reliefs on every particular person diamond component, serving to the automotive mission its Acuraness even when powered off. Entrance fog lights within the bumper corners take form by way of a scattershot of particular person LEDs, a motif the automaker calls “particle glitch.”
When considered in profile, the Precision EV has a hunkered stance thanks partly to the 23-inch wheels and their swirling, five-spoke design with pixelated inserts to recall these funky foglights. A forward-canted entrance finish is uncommon for an Acura, however the peaked hood contours really feel as acquainted right here as they do on the TLX and RDX. In contrast to these vehicles’ upward-sloping character strains, the Acura Precision EV has a swooping crease that descends from the hood over the rear wheels earlier than kicking again as much as wrap across the hatch.
Acura says the revised look is meant to conjure photographs of a speedboat reducing by the waves, and the three-tone coloration scheme provides to the enchantment. Satin silver bodywork under the “water line” contrasts with an aquatic coat of Double Apex Blue matte-finish paint, a hue that’s seemingly going to turn out to be the signature coloration for Acura’s EVs. Up excessive is a blacked-out greenhouse with a chunk of brightwork that wraps above the windshield and across the roof to the D-pillar – squint and also you would possibly see shades of the third-generation MDX in that rear quarter window.
In again, the Precision EV Idea contains a chiseled look, with Acura’s signature chicane-style LED taillights barely revised with extra geometric accents. The beveled hatch comes to some extent within the heart, and there’s a small rear deck simply beneath the glass earlier than the rear finish falls away vertically – extra nautical themes. A fin-style heart cease lamp on the roof remembers Acura’s just lately revealed ARX-06 endurance racer, and down low, particle glitch lighting on every bumper nook offers the Precision EV just a little symmetry.
Whereas the idea itself doesn’t have a lot of an inside, Acura did reveal illustrations of the cabin that supposedly lies underneath the pores and skin. The yoke-style steering wheel and bow-shaped instrument panel accents recall the cockpit of a Formulation 1 racer. That performance-oriented design might be positioned in “Instinctive Mode,” which places the steering wheel throughout the driver’s attain and bathes the cabin in purple accent lighting. However an autonomous drive mode, known as “Religious Lounge,” retracts the steering wheel into the sprint, swaps purple for a cool blue, and shows a soothing underwater graphic on the infotainment and instrument cluster screens.
Whereas which may all appear a bit woo-woo for a automotive’s inside, Acura remains to be concentrating on sleek, sustainable supplies for its future vehicles. The Precision EV inside options FSC-certified wooden harvested from sustainably grown sources, whereas the inexperienced acrylic steering wheel controls, marbled-plastic inside trim, and aluminum instrument cluster encompass all come from recycled supplies. Whether or not such bits might be prepared for large-scale manufacturing by 2024 stays to be seen, however the inside styling buck Acura confirmed off in a no-photos, closed-door session seemed lovely and classy.
The 2016 Precision idea provided a take a look at future design themes and the 2019 Kind S idea previewed the return of the model’s efficiency nameplate. Equally, the Precision EV reveals some tips that Acura has up its sleeve, fairly than instantly presaging a future manufacturing automotive. We count on the particle glitch design cues, illuminated Diamond Pentagon grille, and forward-leaning stance to look on Acura’s first EV debuting in 2024. Co-developed with GM and taking the type of a “dynamically styled SUV,” that product is in any other case shrouded in thriller. However at the least now we all know that elements of it’s going to seem like the daring Precision EV idea.