ZDX is back without internal combustion, but the Type S should bring some electric performance.
Acura is clearly in the holiday spirit, and while we won’t all get a present from the manufacturer under our trees, they did share a wrapped version of their next new car with us Tuesday morning. Meet the new ZDX Type S — an electric crossover “cloaked” (their word) in a unique wrap to let you know a hot version is soon coming to a showroom near you.
In fact, the automaker shared a raft of photos for the Type S, saying that it’s “being rigorously tested and tuned to optimize the SUV’s dynamics and overall driving experience.” I’d certainly hope so, but it’s clear we’re still in for a little bit of a wait before we get any technical information to chew on.
Nevertheless, we can at least get an idea what the upcoming Acura ZDX Type S will look like.
Since this is the brand’s first fully electric model, we don’t have the conventional reference point to suggest what sort of performance we can expect from Honda’s luxury division, like we had with the MDX Type S crossover.
We can, however, perhaps glean some information from this car’s platform mate, the Cadillac Lyriq. Honda’s luxury arm is co-developing the ZDX with General Motors — much like the Prologue due to debut soon — so that may lend some perspective. If the Acura ZDX Type S follows what Cadillac’s bringing to customers in the Lyriq, then you can expect both rear- and all-wheel drive (dual motor) configurations packing between 340 and 500 horsepower. Numbers will likely fluctuate a bit in this application, but that higher figure would put the Type S roughly in the same ballpark with most other electric performance crossovers on the market, like the Ford Mustang Mach-E GT and the Tesla Model Y Performance.
With these camo shots, we can at least expect more details with the coming debut. We’ll see Acura’s new EV sometime next year, and the automaker will share some actual performance specs closer to the on-sale date, as we make the inevitable switchover to the 2024 model year around the fall.
