While the Acura Integra just got a mid-cycle refresh, the larger TLX will soon get the axe. Automotive News reports the midsize sedan will end production by the end of the month, and since it's already July 23, that means the TLX only has days to live, not weeks. RIP in peace, Acura TLX.
Granted, it isn't like the TLX was a huge seller. Last year, Acura only sold 7,478 examples in the U.S., down from 16,731 sales in 2023. Meanwhile, 2023 was a much better year for the TLX than 2022 was, when it still
only found 11,508 buyers. For comparison, BMW sold 25,315 examples of the 5 Series here in 2024 and moved 22,401 units in 2023. Considering how poorly it's been selling, it isn't terribly surprising that Acura would decide to pull the plug.
That said, it doesn't sound like it's entirely the TLX's fault. In order to prep its Marysville Auto Plant to build electric vehicles, Acura moved Accord, Integra and TLX production to the same line, which likely limited how many TLXs it could build. "Those production changes are crimping their sales because they can't build, and with an Accord facelift on the horizon, they have to decide whether to invest in both vehicles or just let the TLX go," Stephanie Brinley, associate director of S&P Global Mobility, told AutoNews.
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Only A Matter Of Time
Then again, the deck was also stacked against the TLX's success, even before the first example rolled off the assembly line. It was, after all, a new sedan in a world that no longer likes sedans. Instead, most buyers want a crossover of some sort. Even if you're just looking at luxury vehicles, sedans reportedly dropped from 22% of the market in 2022 to 18% in 2024.
"The migration to utility vehicles has just not stopped, even in the luxury segment," Brinley told AutoNews. "Luxury sedans are still more popular in the luxury segment relatively than they are in the mainstream segment, but even so, the share keeps dropping."
The other issue, of course, was that even though the TLX and Acura's performance version, the TLX Type S, were pretty darn good cars, they both competed in seriously crowded segments with long-established players, as well as newcomers such as the Cadillac CT5 and Genesis G80. And while you could expect the TLX to cost less to maintain and repair in the long run, it struggled to stand out. Sure, it came with a fancy all-wheel drive system and didn't cost quite as much as some other cars in the segment, but clearly, that wasn't enough to bring in a steady stream of paying customers.
Then again, prices on used TLX Type Ss are already getting down into the low $30,000 range, so maybe the upside here is that you'll soon be able to pick up a pre-owned, all-wheel-drive TLX with 355 horsepower in the mid-to-high twenties. So at least there's that. It's just too bad Acura didn't offer it with a manual transmission.
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