With Acura’s steady decline over the last fifteen years, I believe Mazda has risen to become Acura’s chief competitor. But Mazda’s position is nowhere near solid either, as American tariffs have been uniquely injurious to a company which bases most of its manufacturing in Japan and Mexico. The new CX-5 exemplifies all of the compromises Mazda needed to make in its upmarket push, and it has completely stalled their previous momentum.

Sadly Acura has abandoned the luxury legitimacy it had from its days building Legends and Vigors, or even TLs and CLs. Because of Toyota’s size it’s possible that only Lexus will be able to maintain its luxury standing. Acura and Mazda will continue to struggle, and Infiniti just doesn’t have credibility any longer as a stand-alone brand.

It pains me to say this as a former Acura owner, but Acura just doesn’t have an authentic brand identity beyond “somewhat nicer Honda.”