Hi again Huckster.
I can only speak from personal experience and say that, IMO, Acura/Honda are hurting themselves considerably by not focusing on the customer. The overwhelming majority of consumers aren't like me and are more apt to be like my wife in that in an evironment where many car manufacturers are offering outstanding products in the same highly competitive arena, the consumer will go with the product sold at the most user friendly dealership.
I said it earlier and it merits repeating. I am now hard pressed to imagine a scenario wherein my wife will not immediately go to the Lexus dealership when it comes time to replace her current Lexus. She was treated like royalty from the first instant she had contact with her dealership to every time the car is in for routine service. Lexus does not (usually) build the most exciting products but who can argue with their quality? Given that and the fact that all of their vehicles are at worst competitive, my wife (and I'm sure many like her) are easy sales.
My wife is 27. She and I are only beginning to tap into our earning potential and when you consider that she's likely to go to a new vehicle every 4 years (again, she's not a car nut like me), that represents a huge boon to Lexus/Toyota and a monumental loss to Acura. BTW, she loved her Acura vehicles but was never enamored with the service. It was good but not great.
