It's like someone already said. Acura is just the luxury end of Honda. Think about it as a joint venture between the U.S. and Japan. Even though Acuras have Honda engines they still remain seperate companies. You could say they are made in the U.S. and Japan. This is why you have USDM engines made in the U.S. and JDM engines made in Japan. Making Acura was Honda's way to compete against the european luxury cars in the 80's. As an interesting note, the Acura legend was the first luxury car introduced in those years.