Acura Logo: Calipers Turned into an A

When Acura opened 60 dealers across 18 US states in March 1986, it became the first Japanese luxury car brand in America. Its name and its caliper badge both say the same thing: precision.

Country: Japan
Active: Since 1986
Website: Official website ↗

Channel 2 and a name from a lab

On 27 March 1986, 60 new car dealers in 18 American states opened their doors at the same time. They sold just two models, the Legend sedan and the Integra, and they carried a name nobody had heard two years earlier. Acura was, in Honda’s words, the first Japanese luxury brand in the United States.

The plan took shape in 1984. Honda wanted to go after a premium market dominated by European brands, and it decided that upscale cars would sit better in a separate division than under its own badge. Internally, that division was simply called Channel 2.

A working title wasn’t going to work in a showroom. So American Honda hired NameLab, a naming company in San Francisco, to come up with something new. The result was announced in September 1984: Acura, built on the Latin root acu, meaning sharp or precise. Precision has been the brand’s theme ever since.

It worked. Within its first year the dealer network grew from 60 to 150, and Acura’s first race car, the Comptech Integra No. 48, won IMSA International Sedan Series championships from 1987 to 1990.

A measuring tool with a crossbar

The badge everyone knows today is younger than the brand. It arrived in August 1990 on 1991 model-year cars, and according to Acura it appeared first on the NSX.

The idea behind it is a tool from the engineer’s workbench. Acura’s own timeline says the badge was originally designed as calipers, the instrument used to take very precise measurements. Then Soichiro Honda, the company’s founder, stepped in and added a crossbar, turning the calipers into the letter A.

So the emblem does two jobs at once. Acura explains that the A stands for the brand name, while the shape of mechanical calipers signals the precision of its products. It’s the same message as the name itself, just drawn instead of spelled.

A popular theory says the badge is really a Honda H squeezed together at the top. It’s easy to see why people think so, but it doesn’t appear in Acura’s own explanation of the emblem, which talks only about calipers and the letter A.

Video: Acura logo explained & History of Acura | CarZ (CarZ Channel)

Precision you can drive

Acura’s history is full of firsts, and several of them came from cars that were planned, engineered or built in North America.

Landmark Acuras, decade by decade

1986: Legend and Integra. The two launch models: the Legend luxury-touring sedan and the Integra in three-door and five-door form.
1990: NSX. Shown as the NS-X concept in Chicago in February 1989, it went on sale in August 1990 as the first production car with an all-aluminium chassis and body. Honda called it the first supercar from Japan.
1996: CL. The first model from a luxury import nameplate to be designed, engineered and manufactured in the United States.
2000: MDX. Acura’s first mid-size SUV and, according to Acura, the first luxury SUV with standard third-row seating.
2006: RDX. The first Acura with a turbocharged engine.

Acura remains Honda’s luxury brand, and its early success pushed other Japanese carmakers into the same market. Compare its calipers with the emblems of its home-grown rivals Lexus and Infiniti, or read more about how car logos are designed.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Acura logo mean?

According to Acura, the A stands for the brand name and the shape of mechanical calipers stands for the precision of its products. It was first designed as calipers, and Soichiro Honda added a crossbar to turn it into an A.

Where does the name Acura come from?

It was created in 1984 by NameLab, a naming company in San Francisco. It is based on the Latin root acu, meaning sharp or precise.

When did Acura get its caliper logo?

In August 1990, on 1991 model-year cars. Acura says it appeared first on the NSX.

Is Acura made by Honda?

Yes. Acura is Honda’s luxury brand. Honda created it as a separate division in 1984, and the first Acura dealers opened in the United States on 27 March 1986.