2007 Acura MDX Concept Debuts in New York

The New York Auto Show was the stage for three announcements by Acura, but the one most people have been asking me about is the new 2007 MDX Concept. The new car is scheduled to be released in late 2006 and a 2007 model, and is already creating a lot of "buzz" around the showroom.

Following true to form, the Concept MDX has huge "show car" only wheels and most of the "soft" parts like headlights, tail lights, and the bumpers will see significant changes as the car nears production trim. One look and you can see styling cues from the RDX, giving our SUV lineup a real "family resemblance"

The headlights will eventually look like the HID projector lenses in the RDX, and might even feature the Adaptive Lighting from the RL. Maybe as an option in the Tech package. The turn signals in the side view mirrors will probably make it into production.

Acura has been integrating the exhaust finishers into the lower rear facia recently, so I'm expecting this to make it into the production version. The shape of the rear window glass and the arching roofline create an optical illusion of a tapering tail. This seems to visually lower the car without sacrificing rear headroom for the third row passengers.

I have not seen any photos of the interior, and this is fine with me. Normally, these "show car" interiors have little resemblance to the actual production version. Look for the current theme of brushed aluminum with wood or carbon accents to continue. Based on the recently released RDX specifications, I'm guessing there will be a Tech Package available as the only option. This will likely have the Navigation, Back Up Camera, Rear Entertainment System (possibly a separate option) and the ELS DVD-Audio system.