Acura’s first electrical automobile (EV) will seem for the 2024 mannequin 12 months. It’s a wierd recipe, mixing a largely forgotten title, GM components, and a beautiful idea automobile to provide an interesting midsize SUV. However, at first look, it really works.

The five hundred-horsepower model doesn’t harm.

Meet the 2024 Acura ZDX.

Not Fairly a Historic Nameplate

If the title sounds acquainted, you might bear in mind a distinct segment automobile Acura bought from 2010 to 2013. That ZDX was the forerunner of as we speak’s “SUV coupe” development, combining an SUV’s greater stance with a coupe’s sportier roofline. It by no means took off within the U.S. — Acura bought simply over 7,000 of them stateside in three years of attempting — about what number of MDX SUVs it sells in a month.

Not Fairly Acura Bones

The subsequent ZDX will likely be distinctive another way.

It’s constructed on the GM Ultium platform via an settlement with Basic Motors. Meaning the ZDX shares a lot of its structure with the Cadillac Lyriq and the upcoming 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV. Mother or father firm Honda is creating its personal EV platforms and says future Acura EVs is not going to all be co-developed with GM.

Acura engineers tweaked the Ultium platform sufficient to offer the ZDX completely different specs. The corporate will supply three variations.

An A-Spec single-motor trim degree will make 340 horsepower with one electrical motor driving the rear wheels. Acura says it “is predicted to start out within the $60,000 vary.” An A-Spec dual-motor model will use two motors for all-wheel drive (AWD). Acura hasn’t revealed energy figures for that one. The corporate claims a variety of 325 miles with one motor and 315 with two, although the EPA hasn’t weighed in on that.

A ZDX Kind S will even be AWD and get 500 horsepower. It rides on an adaptive air suspension and will get high-performance Brembo entrance brakes. The Kind S will begin at round $70,000. It’s estimated to journey 288 miles between costs.

Fairly a Hanging Look

It could be partially a GM product beneath, however the physique is all-new and all-Acura. A toned-down tackle final 12 months’s dramatic Precision idea, it bears an apparent household resemblance to as we speak’s RDX and MDX. However it provides dramatic aptitude with a protracted hood marked by three outstanding ridges. A floating roof design emphasizes the visible size.

Inside, a high-mounted central touchscreen is a reasonably commonplace 11.3 inches however seems bigger thanks to manage surfaces mounted subsequent to it that appear to be extra display actual property. Acura says it additionally comes with “an intuitive touchscreen interface and wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility.”

With GM abandoning Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the ZDX often is the solely manner for Ultium followers (is {that a} factor?) to get the platform with widespread telephone integration instruments.

Each mannequin will get the identical Bang & Olufsen sound tools; a “bespoke system has been engineered completely for the tech-rich cabin of the all-electric SUV with 18 audio system, together with 4 within the headliner, 14-channels of amplification and a subwoofer to ship highly effective and complicated sound.”

Honda and Acura haven’t introduced plans to hitch different automakers switching to Tesla’s EV charging plug. As a substitute, the corporate says, “As part of an introduced three way partnership between seven main automakers, Acura EV purchasers can have entry to a number one high-speed brand-neutral charging community in the US and Canada beginning in 2024.”

Acura appears to have partially backed away from plans to promote its EVs solely on-line. The corporate says, “All Acura ZDX gross sales will happen via a brand new, omnichannel digital gross sales course of, guaranteeing a easy and intuitive purchasing expertise from dwelling or at an Acura dealership. Pre-sale actions for ZDX will begin later this 12 months, with first shopper deliveries slated for early 2024.”