Marysville-built Acura wins North American Car of the Year
Jan. 12—The Marysville, Ohio-built Acura Integra won the 2023 "North American Car of the Year" award Wednesday.
The Ohio-built car was "recognized for its sporty design, engaging driving experience, versatile package and premium features," Acura said in an announcement.
"It has quickly become the best-selling model in the premium sport compact segment and has the highest percentage of buyers under 35-years old in the class," the automaker added.
This is the second time Acura has been honored with a North American Car or Truck of the Year award. The 2001 Acura MDX also took "North American Truck of the Year" honors.
"Relaunching an iconic model like Integra with such great fanfare and industry recognition has been incredible," said Emile Korkor, assistant vice president of Acura national sales. "We're especially proud for the Integra development team in Japan and our production associates at our plant in Marysville, Ohio where the 2023 Integra is built."
The 2023 Integra is the first Integra built in America, with production in Marysville, on the same line as the Acura TLX. Integra's turbocharged 1.5-liter engine is made at the Anna engine plant, about an hour's drive north of Dayton.
Acura is Honda's luxury nameplate.
Award judges lauded the Integra.
"Honda's luxury brand rebirths its second-best original name on its best new car. The Honda Civic-based Acura Integra looks good, drives well and is among the very few in its or any segment offering a slick-shifting manual transmission," said Gary Witzenburg of WardsAuto.
"The Acura Integra revives a beloved name with a car worthy of the moniker. Fun to drive and economical, it's the type of car I would look forward to driving every day," said Kirk Bell, of Motor Authority
This summer, the Integra lineup will get a high-performance Integra Type S, Acura said. The 2024 Integra Type S will be powered by a 2.0-liter VTEC turbocharged engine producing over 300 horsepower and paired exclusively with a 6-speed manual transmission and limited slip differential.
Founded in 1994, the car and truck awards are the longest-running new-vehicle awards not associated with a single publication. They are judged by 50 automotive-sector journalists from print, online, radio and TV media outlets in the U.S. and Canada.
