Acura Stretches The TLX With Long-Wheelbase Prototype For China

Want a new Acura sedan, but find the TLX too small? You could step up to the bigger RLX – or, if you live in China, into the stretched TLX-L. Or at least you could at sometime later this year.

Previewed as in near-production concept form at the Shanghai Auto Show this week is the Acura TLX-L prototype. It's clearly based closely on the latest version of Honda's midsize luxury sedan revealed – complete with its more crowd-pleasing grille – at the New York Auto Show last week, but adds more space for the rear passengers by increasing the wheelbase.

By how much, and to what effect, we don't know. The Japanese automaker released little in the way of details to accompany just two images. But it did confirm that a production version will hit the Chinese market before this year is out, and naturally asserts that the modifications maintain the sedan's “high-quality driving performance.”

Long-wheelbase vehicles are in particularly high demand in the Chinese market, where owners with the means often prefer to be driven rather than drive themselves, and consequently place a higher emphasis on rear-seat comfort than other, more driver-focused markets.

Carscoops