Quote Originally Posted by 05dc5s View Post
"When the automobile industry in the United States was threatened by the popularity of cheaper more fuel efficient Japanese cars, a 1981 voluntary restraint agreement limited the Japanese to exporting 1.68 million cars to the U.S. annually as stipulated by U.S Government.

The Japanese automobile industry responded by establishing assembly plants or "transplants" in the United States to produce mass market vehicles. They also began exporting bigger, more expensive cars (soon under their newly-formed luxury brands like Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti)."
Here is what I gather from this report. This doesn't coincide with Acura being established. If you'll remember, Honda introduced it's first North American auto factory in November of 1982. This factory was built to circumnavigate this restraint agreement so they will no longer be exporting Hondas to the States. They build them here in America and thus negate exportation. Acura didn't show up for another 5 years after. The reason why Acura came around because they wanted to tap into the luxury market. Since the Honda name was synonymous with cheap, gas savers, they didn't think that the public would go for a luxury car from the same company. Thus the beginning of the Acura name.