It’s not. It’s a Honda, which is sold in North America with an Acura badge. This is marketing, that’s all.
The original NSX was manufactured by Honda in Japan. Its design was lead by a man named Masahito, employed by Honda, engineering lead by a Shigeru, employed by Honda. As well as Senna, track development was done at Suzuka by Japanese F1 driver Satoru Nakajima. It was sold as a Honda all over the world, not just Japan but Europe and Australia too.
In Hong Kong and North America, Honda sold it with an Acura badge.
The second generation is manufactured in the USA, at Honda’s manufacturing plant in Ohio. It was designed by an American lady who works for Acura, but nevertheless is sold all over the world as a Honda. Doubtless this car is more Acura than the earlier car, but it’s a Honda.
Again, in China and the US, Honda put an Acura badge on it.
Who cares?
This becomes an issue with articles like this. This uses the misconception that it a car funded and manufactured by Honda for the world is manufactured by Acura to fluff up its points:
The goal was to take the existing performance, experience and fun of supercars and add the reliability and daily comfort of an Acura
Not true. It was designed to add the reliability and usability of a Honda. And it did. It wasn’t especially luxurious, but it was nice inside as befits its price. It was a Honda through and through.
In making a sports car that you could drive every day and not go bankrupt, Acura delivered
Well. Acura didn’t really deliver anything. They didn’t do anything. They didn’t develop the car. They just sold it. They delivered it in the strictest sense (to some customers), but that’s all.
but since Lexus was going to beat them to the punch, why bother? Not much of a New Experience if your biggest direct rival is already doing it.
Is Lexus really Honda’s biggest rival? Sort of. But not in the way this implies.
I understand that the difference between the two might seem trivial. But the article really gets stuck into using Acura attributes to support itself. Acura is a badge, a marketing exercise. Acura is specific to the USA. Acura doesn’t exist to most of the world. If Acura made this car what it is and Acura is the reason the second generation took so long, what does that mean for Japan? Australia? All of Europe?
Nothing. Because it’s a Honda.