CAN LOOKS KILL (SALES)? ACURA MAY FIND OUT WITH ITS NEW TL.(News)(American Honda Motor Company Inc. Acura)(Financial report)

Byline: DON KLEIN

With a grille that looks like the face of a stoned Pokemon character and a rear end that defies summary description, the exterior of the new Acura TLs (there are two: the base model and the SH-AWD, which replaces the Type-S) is bound to be polarizing. You'll either love it or hate it. Acura clearly thinks the risk is worth the potential reward.

Through the first half of 2008, sales of the TL, once the class leader, were running at about 48,000 units a year, down almost 38 percent from the high-water mark of 78,218 in 2005. The radical look is meant to draw conquest buyers into the TL tent.

The TL is Acura's best-selling model, even with that slump, and it has a loyal customer base that the company is reluctant to lose. So the team responsible for the new car relied heavily on feedback from TL owners before taking CAD/CAM mice in hand. They dutifully (and beautifully) responded to a focus-group-generated wish list that included more power, better handling and mine-is-cooler-than-yours electronics.

The focus group may have gotten more than it asked for, though, after it asked, "Can you make it look more distinctive? The new model is distinctive, all right, but will those key loyalists embrace it?

If the looks are a radical departure, the mechanical improvements are so extensive that just about the only components carried over from the "08 model are the lug nuts. For starters, the TL is longer and wider than the "08. It's heavier, too, but despite the weight gain and bigger engines, fuel economy remains the same, thanks to better aero-dynamics and smart gas-saving ideas such as switching from hydraulic to electronic power steering. The frame rails have been relocated inside the floor pan for improved safety, and a laundry list of suspension upgrades and handling aids (brake assist, vehicle stability assist, ABS, EBD, etc.) all combine for markedly improved handling.

There are changes under the hood, too. In the base model, an all-new aluminum ...