Acura's First EV Won't Be Sold In Physical Showrooms At All

As part of becoming the "tip of the spear for digitalization at American Honda," Acura will exclusively sell theZDXelectric crossover online. The announcement slipped into a media briefing on Honda America's outlook for 2023. The brief statement says that as part of the new initiative, "100% of Acura EV sales taking place online, starting in 2024 with the ZDX andZDX Type S. Pre-sales for ZDX will begin in 2023, ahead of the early 2024 release."

It's a bold move, eclipsing Volvo's decision only tosell its C40 Recharge model online. Volvo seems to think that selling a model only online will help it bring in a younger demographic, but Acura doesn't have that issue. Besides, it's not like older people can't use a browser.

Acura didn't go into specifics, but it seems a curious decision unless ordering will be available on dealership websites rather than Acura's national portal. This seems more likely unless Acura is happy to aggravate its dealers and restricts sales to states thatdo not have laws restricting sales directly to consumerswithout a dealership in the middle.

何pefully, it means customers will be able to go to dealerships to test drive the ZDX and ZDX Type S and then order exactly what they want rather than be persuaded to or have to (as the case has mainly been lately) pick from existing inventory.