- Acura has ended production of the ZDX SUV, its sole electric offering in the U.S., a spokesperson confirmed to InsideEVs.
- The move comes just a week before the EV tax credit is set to expire. That will deal a blow to EV demand.
- Acura still plans to launch the RSX, a smaller EV built in Ohio, late next year.
The great electric-vehicle slowdown is in full swing. And the latest casualty is the Acura ZDX, the brand's sole battery-powered offering in the U.S.
Acura has stopped producing the electric crossover, Honda confirmed to InsideEVs.
"To better align our product portfolio with the needs of our customers and market conditions, as well as our long-term strategic goals, we can confirm the Acura ZDX has ended production," Honda spokesperson Chris Naughton said in an email, adding that the crossover has "played a valuable role for the Acura brand."
CarDealershipGuy News first reported the production stoppage, citing an internal memo.
"Market conditions" could mean a lot of things, and none of them are great news for America's EV industry. There are the Trump administration's wide-ranging tariffs, which are hiking up costs and creating migraines for automakers foreign and domestic.
And then, of course, there's the looming end to the federal EV tax credit on September 30. Honda did not elaborate on whether the expiring policy played a role in the decision, but the timing is hard to ignore. Starting on October 1, people will have to pay more for EVs, and so they'll want fewer of them on the whole.
On top of that, the major emissions and fuel economy regulations that were forcing automakers to sell an increasing number of cleaner cars are all either dead or dying. Thus, automakers like Honda have far less pressure to push so-far unprofitable EVs to dealerships. That means they'll be reluctant to slap on the kinds of hefty incentives that have been required to sell EVs lately, as demand growth has moderated.
According to industry data, Acura was piling on incentives of $21,000 on each ZDX in the second quarter. One can see why the company wouldn't keep it around absent outside regulatory pressure.
Add it all up, and yeah, the "market conditions" are not exactly a green light for full-steam EV production.
Moving forward, America's EV market will be driven more by pure customer demand and automakers' desire to remain competitive in the technologies of the future. For a period, that will mean far slower sales growth than would have been possible had key policy drivers remained in place.
Acura is far from the only manufacturer scaling back right now. Ram recently canceled its electric pickup truck, arguably a smart move given the lackluster sales of other EV trucks. General Motors will start off Chevrolet Bolt EV production later this year with fewer shifts than it had planned. The Nissan Ariya is dead for the 2026 model year.
It's not totally clear if this is the end of the road for the ZDX in any form, or just this generation. Naughton said production for "this generation" ZDX has ended, but declined to say whether Acura is planning a next generation.
What we do know is that Honda and Acura do have more EVs coming. The Acura RSX, a crossover built at the company's EV Hub in Ohio, is set to start production in the back half of 2026.
Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
