With every passing day, the world is closer to the Acura Integra’s return, and now, production has begun at Honda’s Marysville, Ohio factory. Cars rolling out now will start hitting dealers in early June, and pre-orders have already been tilted heavily in favor of the six-speed manual, although exact production numbers are still unannounced. Regardless of final counts, however, we’ll finally get to see a new Integra on the streets soon enough.
The fifth-generation Integra already set a milestone as soon as the first one rolled off the line, by being the first Integra built in America in the history of the nameplate. While Acura has built most of its cars stateside in recent years, including the halo-car NSX, the Integra was exclusively built in Honda’s Suzuka plant for all of its previous generations dating back to Acura and the Integra’s inception in 1986. This includes the fourth-generation car, which was sold in Japan as an Integra but in America was known as the RSX; Acura considers it to be part of the Integra lineage despite its name stateside. It, too, was built in Suzuka.
The newest Integra’s production in Marysville also means that all of Acura’s five current models are built in America.
While drive impressions are still unavailable (I mean, Acura just built the first car), the Integra is likely to be similar to its mechanically related sibling, the eleventh-generation Honda Civic Si, which is produced in seven different plants around the world, including Honda’s Indiana manufacturing facility. The 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that lives under the hoods of both cars is assembled in Honda’s Anna, Ohio engine plant, which means the Integra is about as Ohioan as any Japanese car could possibly be.
As a former Cleveland-area resident, I’m thrilled at any positive mention of my former home state, but I hope Acura hasn’t accidentally given its newest model seasonal depression by building it in Ohio. We’ll just have to wait a few more months until the cars get a chance to trickle out of Marysville and into new owners’ hands.
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