Acura's First EV Won't Be Sold In Physical Showrooms At All

Jan. 27, 2023 3:17 PM ET by Ian Wright Electric Vehicles / 2 Comments

The Acura ZDX and ZDX Type S will be online-only sellers.

As part of becoming the "tip of the spear for digitalization at American Honda," Acura will exclusively sell the ZDX electric crossover online. The announcement slipped into a media briefing on Honda America's outlook for 2023. The brief statement says that as part of the new initiative, "100% of Acura EV sales taking place online, starting in 2024 with the ZDX and ZDX Type S. Pre-sales for ZDX will begin in 2023, ahead of the early 2024 release."

It's a bold move, eclipsing Volvo's decision only to sell its C40 Recharge model online. Volvo seems to think that selling a model only online will help it bring in a younger demographic, but Acura doesn't have that issue. Besides, it's not like older people can't use a browser.

Acura

Acura didn't go into specifics, but it seems a curious decision unless ordering will be available on dealership websites rather than Acura's national portal. This seems more likely unless Acura is happy to aggravate its dealers and restricts sales to states that do not have laws restricting sales directly to consumers without a dealership in the middle.

Hopefully, it means customers will be able to go to dealerships to test drive the ZDX and ZDX Type S and then order exactly what they want rather than be persuaded to or have to (as the case has mainly been lately) pick from existing inventory.

Acura

The ZDX is inspired by the Precision EV Concept, but co-developed with General Motors using the American automaker's Ultium platform and batteries. Acura remains tight-lipped on specs for both the ZDX and the undoubtedly sportier ZDX Type S. We expect them to be close to the Chevy Blazer EV, however. Hopefully, the Type S version will share the Blazer SS model's 557 horsepower and 648 lb-ft of torque delivered by its two electric motors.

Honda's own Prologue will also be based on the Ultium platform, but there was no mention of online-only sales for its first mass-market all-electric vehicle.