“It leaned more toward trying to feel luxurious and comfortable,” Brinley said. “[The new Integra] goes back to the first Integra’s roots of being passionate.
“Acura has had some great driving cars in its past, and it’s good to bring that back.”
Korkor said his team concluded that the car’s audience would favor some distinct performance-oriented characteristics, such as a six-speed manual transmission only offered on the top trim.
“We expected the enthusiast reaction to be good, but it’s been exceptional,” he said, noting that “by design” the bulk of Integra production will be with the manual transmission offered only on the fully loaded A-Spec with Technology trim, which costs a competitive $36,986, including shipping. The base model costs $31,895.
Expecting the Integra to deliver most of its volume at the higher price point was part of the blueprint from the beginning, but it is contrary to Acura’s past product launches, which sought to create competition around the base trim.
“Rather than focusing on coming in at a low price point, we wanted to put our best foot forward in terms of our strongest model, the A-Spec,” Korkor said.
