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Acura Reveals Type S Concept Debuts at Monterey Car Week

08.19.19 | By
Acura Reveals Type S Concept Debuts at Monterey Car Week

Arriving just ahead of the kick-off of the 2019 Monterey Car Week, Acura answers a decade long call to bring back their much missed Type S performance variants in the form of the Type S Concept – a refined and more fully realized silhouette derived from the Acura Precision Concept.

As a whole, the silhouette of the Acura Type S Concept is rather handsome viewed from all angles – perhaps the best looking Acura design (minus the 2nd gen NSX) in recent memory, made even more striking by the choice to dress it an electrifying Double Apex Blue Pearl hue.

We’ve been dreaming about a new performance-focused Acura concept car since the Precision Concept debuted. The Type S Concept speaks unambiguously to performance and to the essence of Acura design.

– Dave Marek, Acura’s Executive Creative Director

Born from within Honda’s stateside design incubator under the direction of executive creative director, Dave Marek, and chief designer, Ben Davidson at the Acura Design Studio, the Type S Concept stands as both an evolutionary refinement and evocative nod to the boldy expressed Acura Precision Concept design revealed in 2016.

Marek’s team decision to ease the angularity of the Type S Concept’s front diamond grille from Acura’s current stable of design is one of our favorite details.

Even with a cursory glance, it’s easy to recognize some of the same chiseled muscularity as its predecessor, with a low and wide stance paired with stretched, sinuous styling – a combination celebrated as the “essence of Precision Crafted Performance”, Acura’s often cited design philosophy purporting a holistic automotive philosophy of engineering, performance, design, and luxury.

Consider this concept a more fully realized teaser aimed at the legions of Acura enthusiasts who’ve been pining for more aggressive – and frankly – more beautiful expressions from the brand. It’s a concept intended to “heavily influence the character of the upcoming, second-generation TLX Type S”, and from what we can see, it’s an optimism-inducing hint.

The Acura Type S Concept made its public debut at The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering on August 16th, while also appearing amongst notable reveals from the week’s events at the Concept Lawn at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on August 18th.

Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.