is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State.
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Honda announced that the next-generation Acura RDX will be the brand’s first SUV to feature a two-motor hybrid system. While this next-gen platform is under development, Honda said it would suspend production of the current RDX, which launched in 2018 and has sold nearly 740,000 units in the US.
Honda confirmed that current RDX production will end this year, followed by a pause before the next-generation model arrives. Exactly when that will be, Honda wouldn’t say. But in the meantime, Honda said that production of the new all-electric Acura RSX remains on track for the second half of this year, followed by the Honda Zero SUV.
Honda confirmed that current RDX production will end this year
The Acura RSX is being positioned as the brand’s first fully homegrown EV that’s slated to be produced in the second half of this year at Honda’s newly acquired Ohio factory. It will feature dual-motor all-wheel drive, sport-tuned suspension, Brembo brakes, and the new ASIMO operating system. Honda recently bought out its partner LG Energy’s portion of the Ohio factory to acquire full control of the facility. The factory has been upgraded to allow gas, hybrid, and EV models to be built on the same production line, slated to begin later this year.
But not all of Honda’s EV dreams are coming to fruition. The automaker has already cancelled the Acura ZDX, which is built on GM’s EV platform, after just one year in production. And production of the Zero series Saloon was delayed until 2027.
As EV demand cools after the expiration of the federal tax credit, automakers across the globe are scrambling to add more hybrid models to their lineups. Honda said that these policy rollbacks also required strategy changes to better align its portfolio with customer demand for hybrids and gas-powered vehicles “rather than structuring the business solely around EV mandates,” said Lance Woelfer, VP of automobile sales at Honda. (Woelfer’s use of the term “EV mandate” closely echoes President Donald Trump’s false assertion that the Biden administration’s tax policies and emissions rules forced Americans to buy EVs against their will.)
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