Acura is a Japanese brand name used by Honda in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Hong Kong since March 1986 to market luxury automobiles and near luxury vehicles. Acura is credited with creating or being the first to tap into a market for luxury Japanese cars outside Japan. Before Acura, automobiles from Japan were primarily economical and were seen as reliable above all else.

Other Japanese luxury brands (Toyota's Lexus and Nissan's Infiniti) sprang up in North America shortly after Acura's introduction of the Legend, a V6 powered coupe and sedan and the Integra, which was offered with a 4 cylinder engine only. Automotive journalists were impressed particularly by the Acura Legend.

During the mid- to late-1990's, Acura's model line-up became less and less inspiring and consequently, sales suffered. During this time, Acura switched to an alphanumeric formula for nomenclature, which was the size of the vehicle's engine in liters followed by two letters (or three in the case of SUVs.)

In the early 2000's, Acura re-enlivened its line-up, arguably beginning with the introduction of the MDX, a popular third row SUV based on the Honda Odyssey minivan. The MDX replaced the slow-selling SLX, which was little more than a rebadged Isuzu Trooper.

Acura's new models – particularly the RL and TSX – have been well received by the motoring press. The company has now re-established itself with a consistent performance-oriented image, while also maintaining its reputation for outstanding customer service and reliability.

For the future, Acura is looking forward to the introduction of the RDX, a smaller SUV set to feature the RL's SH-AWD (Super Handling All Wheel Drive) and should debut in mid-2006 as a 2007 model.

And while the NSX was discontinued after the 2005 model year, Acura promises a redesigned model sometime in 2007 or 08. In 2008, Acura will also debut as a brand name in Europe and Japan, not just N. America.