Next-gen Acura TLX spied out testing in heavy camouflage

We’re sure you all remember that stunning Acura Type S Concept from yesterday. Acura said it’s meant to influence the next-gen TLX’s design, and lo and behold, here is the next-gen TLX. Of course, Acura has no intentions of letting us see the production car anytime soon, so we’re treated to a heavily cladded prototype in the photos here.

Looking at it in profile, the camouflaged car looks a whole lot like the Type S Concept we saw yesterday. The short rear overhang is similar, but the front of the production car looks like it hangs out over the front wheels a little further – it still shares the concept’s overall long-hood/short-deck proportions, though. The roof tapers down into the decklid at a shallow angle, similar to the concept car. We’re sad to see the same quad exhaust isn’t protruding from the rear bumper of this tester. Instead, it gets a dual exhaust with wide, rectangular outlets on both sides. We think the car we’re looking at here is likely a regular TLX, and not the spicy Type S variant most likely seen last year.

There’s one interior photo our shooter was able to snag, showing a similar infotainment screen as that used in the new RDX, something we fully expect for the production car. That touchpad system is far superior to Acura infotainment systems of the past, but it still isn’t perfect. An analog tachometer is visible off to the left, indicating that the regular TLX trims probably won’t introduce a fully digital instrument cluster. Not that we’d expect that; even the new RDX maintains analog gauges in its top spec.

However the TLX story plays out, it won’t hurt if the production car looks just like the well-received Type S Concept. It’s unclear how long we’ll have to wait to see the car in full, but we’ll keep you posted.