American Honda’s newly independent Acura division has dropped the hybrid version of the ILX sedan for its 2015 model year, with just 227 cars having been sold so far this year.
The Civic-based premium priced sedan had its global debut in pre-production form at the Detroit auto show in January 2012, with the production model premiering at the Chicago show the following month.
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The car went on sale in North American markets in May 2012 for that region’s 2013 model year. It has the same powertrain as the Civic Hybrid with which it shares its platform. That means a 1.5-litre four-cylinder gasoline engine and one electric motor.
Acura division will continue to sell other versions of the ILX, with the US the model’s largest global market. It is also available in Mexico, Canada and China and is built alongside the Civic at Honda’s newest North American plant: Greensburg, Indiana. This will change, however, as American Honda stated in March that it will shift production of the ILX to a plant in Marysville (Ohio) in early 2015.
The ILX also serves as the replacement for the TSX, which, like the ILX Hybrid, will be discontinued at the end of North America’s 2014 model year.
Overall, Acura’s small sedan is yet to live up to sales expectations, with just 7,429 cars having been sold for the year to the end of May (excluding the Hybrid). One of the main problems has been the lack of an automatic option for 2.4-litre variants. This handicap continues into the 2015 model year.
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By GlobalDataAcura car sales are down 28.2% for the year to date, to just 22,054 vehicles, with the RLX the only model not to have fallen by a double-digit YoY percentage. By contrast, the division’s light trucks are up by 35.4% to 44,691 units, the majority of which are one model: the MDX.
