Automotive News reports Toshinobu Minami, the new head of global design for Acura, says the company may have gone “a little overboard at some points” with the company’s shield grille. Minami said Acura has had bad feedback on the design from multiple directions, but says the company isn’t going to “buckle under that pressure.” Instead of scrapping the beak design all together, the designer wants to keep the corporate look while simultaneously reaching further out toward a premium design language. Honda, meanwhile, will receive models with a sportier and more active-looking exterior. Acura recently debuted more demure interpretations of the shield grille on models like the ILX and the NSX Concept.
Minami says reactions have been somewhat less vitriolic compared to the past, and the designer contributes that in part to people growing accustomed to the look. It’s either that, or we’re all just tired of complaining about how awkward the Acura stable looks when the company is happy to run around with its fingers in its ears.
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