Back in the late 1980s, the Acura Legend was launched as Honda's premier luxury sedan in the US. It immediately struck a chord with plenty of buyers due to its high build quality, overall refinement, and solid engines. It handled like a proper sports sedan. And despite everything, Honda had the infinite wisdom (note the sarcasm) to rebrand the Legend as the RL when a complete redesign came in 1995. Consider that to be the beginning of a boring slump Acura is still trying to dig its way out of.

But now, some 18 years later, the Legend name has returned – in Japan. Honda has just announced that what's known as the Acura RLX in the US will be branded the Honda Legend when it goes on sale in Japan this January. The sole engine will be a 3.5-liter V6 i-VTEC with direct injection paired to a seven-speed dual-clutch. Honda's widely respected super-handling all-wheel-drive system is also standard. Damn shame the name change isn't happening stateside.