Acura Nexera concept previews new design language for Honda's luxury brand

The Acura Nexera Vision concept has revealed a bold new design language for Honda's luxury brand.

Making its in-the-flesh debut at The Quail motorsports gathering this weekend in California, the Nexera Vision concept celebrates the brand's 40th birthday.

According to Yasutake Tsuchida, Acura's design boss, it "sets the course for the next generation of Acura design" with "disciplined proportions, sculpted form and the seamless integration of advanced technology".

The Nexera is a low, supercar-like coupe with a long bonnet, beak-like nose, and butterfly doors. Other show car features on the Nexera that are unlikely to appear on any future production Acuras include centre-lock wheels, and forged carbon-fibre inserts for the rear diffuser, rocker panels, inner door structure and aero parts.

The Matte Titanium paint serves to emphasise the coupe's smooth lines and clean surfaces. It will be interesting to see how these design cues play out on SUVs based on a front-wheel drive platform.

Perhaps the most interesting design feature on the Nexera is its "phantom lighting" setup, where the headlights, tail-lights, and illuminated badges are only visible when they're turned on.

The graphic for the driving lights and tail-lights mimics the brand's 'A-mark', or the vernier calipers inside its logo. This lighting graphic is set to appear on the brand's upcoming production cars.

Inside, the Nexera has a minimalist cabin with a fighter jet-style steering wheel, a curved instrumentation display and barely a button in sight. As the thin-shell bucket seats are bolted to the floor, the steering wheel and pedals move forward and backward to suit the driver's length and posture.

The interior is said to be designed with sustainability in mind, and features components made from recycled aluminium, faux suede with recycled polyester on the dashboard and door cards, and more sustainable CircuLeather upholstery.

The first model to feature the brand's new design language will be the RDX Hybrid. Based on the mid-size platform that also underpins the next-generation Honda Civic, the RDX SUV is expected to go on sale next year.

The Acura Hybrid SUV Prototype revealed in May is thought to be a thinly disguised take on the new RDX. Interestingly, that prototype features much more angular styling than the Nexera and doesn't seem to include the brand's new A-mark lighting graphic.

While most of Honda's concept cars are merely harbingers of production vehicles, the Nexera doesn't seem to fit this mould. 

Given Honda posted its first-ever annual loss in May, and forecast continuing financial hardship from its decision to cancel a slew of EVs months before they were due to go into production, it seems unlikely Honda will invest time and money in a low-volume coupe. 

If the Nexera, or something like it, does somehow manage to find its way into production, it could show up in markets outside of North America branded as a Honda.

Some models that wore Acura badges in North America have been sold in Australia as Hondas. These include the MDX, NSX, RSX (Integra), RL (Legend), TSX (Accord Euro) and EL/CSX (Civic).

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