- Acura revealed its Precision EV Concept Thursday, previewing where the brand’s headed as it aims to electrify its lineup.
- Naturally, we’re seeing an evolution of the original ‘Precision Concept’ as an SUV, as most automakers want to strike the popular (and profitable) crossover market first.
- It’s not just electrification, either: the Precision EV Concept gears up for autonomous driving capability.
Meet the future, or at least a glimpse of it — the Acura Precision EV Concept.
It’s been six years since Acura last gave us a glimpse of their future direction, and now they’re back with another take. This Precision EV Concept gives away its main intent in the name, as the brand gears up for its shift into fully electric vehicles in a couple years’ time. Eventually, we’ll see this car in production form as Acura’s forthcoming SUV by 2024.
At first glimpse, the Acura Precision EV Concept SUV doesn’t look out-of-this-world futuristic, at least to my eye. There’s more an element of familiarity here than perhaps the 2016 concept brought, as you can see elements of the current MDX in the greenhouse, some of the lines and particularly the light clusters at both ends. Being a concept, this naturally brings in more angles and flowing lines to glow up the company’s current styling language, but the outside brings a certain blend of freshness and familiarity.
Mind you, the illuminated grille shown above is definitely an interesting, forward-looking touch.
Check out the interior, though
Get inside the Acura Precision EV Concept SUV, on the other hand, and you’ll see its designers lean hard toward futuristic styling — especially with the oh-so-fashionable steering yoke. Couple to that more novel character lines and transparent gauge cluster and curved infotainment display, and what you get is certainly a modern look at what Acura’s electrified future will hold. That said, the brand is still focused on performance driving as one of its cornerstones, so the space features “dual experiences” depending on your needs and mood.
“Instinctive Drive” is one of the modes (shown below). That offers up red ambient lighting, and similarly angry piping that draw your eyes to the area directly in front of the driver. You also get an F1-inspired readout on the dash showing power, speed and state-of-charge at a given moment.
The other “Spiritual Lounge” mode gives you a laissez-faire approach to moving about. It retracts the steering wheel and pedals out of the way and makes both displays transparent, so you can unwind for the journey. It also reclines both driver and passenger seats, creating what Acura calls a “warm, calming experience with soothing scents and restful “under water” animated projection so the driver can relax and recharge.” Granted, you’re less of a “driver” and more of an “operator” at that stage, but you get the idea: a chilled-out experience to contrast the more hardcore, enthusiast driving mode.
Will this be the next Acura MDX?
In essence, almost certainly, though you’ll have to temper your expectations on some of the tech and more extreme bits of the styling making it to production anytime soon. The “theatrical lighting approach that previews an electrified powertrain,” as the company puts it, likely won’t end up on a production model. Nor will the transparent screens…but the yoke? I’m not completely counting that out, as it’s apparently now a thing thanks to the Tesla Model S Plaid and the Toyota bZ4X, to a lesser extent.
What do you think? Would you take Acura’s upcoming look at its EV for what’s shown here, or do you prefer something different? We may, may see a sedan version of this concept emerge at some point down the road, though automakers seem keen to focus most of their attention on SUVs, whether you like it or not.
See more in Acura’s teaser video below:
