Acura EV off to surprisingly successful start in US with help from enticing sales incentives: 'Hard to say no'

In a recent review for Acura's new EV model, the ZDX, Electrek put things bluntly: "Acura isn't really known as a luxury EV brand," they wrote. "But with over $20,000 in discounts, it's hard to say no."

The brand's EV just hit its one-year milestone after being launched in the U.S. in May 2024. And after a record-shattering month in April of 2,331 vehicles sold, Acura has now sold over 9,000 units in the U.S.

It may be small numbers compared to its mammoth competitors, like Tesla — which sold nearly 634,000 units in the last year — but it's a surprisingly successful start for the Japanese brand. In fact, it had projected in February to only sell approximately 1,000 units a month in 2024, and has been consistently outperforming those expectations.

One of the main reasons, Electrek explains, is that Acura is "currently offering nearly $30,000 in lease cash on the 2024 ZDX in some states, making it even more affordable than a Honda CR-V Hybrid." Leases are as low as $299 for 24 months, with only $2,999 due at signing.

Acura's parent company, Honda, is also doing well in the market. Its Prologue SUV model nearly quadrupled its sales from 2024 to 2025, with over 33,000 models sold last year.

And it's making use of incentives as well; in April, it enabled up to $16,500 in savings on leases of the 2025 Prologue, with leases as low as $239 for 36 months with only $1,399 due at signing.

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The new "Big Beautiful Bill" from the Trump administration is set to eliminate many of those incentives, however, including the $7,500 EV tax credit currently available in all 50 states. Without these federal incentives, Electrek says, "many of these savings will disappear." And given the growing demand for electric vehicles, it will therefore be up to automakers to find ways to maintain the market inertia and keep customers convinced that switching to an EV is not only better for the environment, but better for their wallet, too.

Indeed, while the initial price tags can be high, consumers enjoy massive savings and other benefits when they upgrade to an EV. This is because EVs don't require fuel and routine maintenance in the same way diesel-powered vehicles do. They're also healthier for drivers, cutting back significantly on tailpipe emissions and therefore on in-car pollution. For all of these reasons, EV sales have continued to climb in the U.S.

"Despite many obstacles — and what you may read elsewhere — electric-vehicle sales continue to grow at a healthy pace in the U.S. market," Cox Automotive explained in a recent article. "Roughly 7.5% of total new-vehicle sales in the first quarter were electric vehicles, an increase from 7% a year earlier."

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