Acura is hand-building a few dozen copies of its TLX sedan as an exclusivity exercise.

Pricing is not yet known, but we expect it's going to come in around $50,000—which would make it a bargain at least among vehicles built by hand.

The TLX will come in the same red color as the NSX, which is hand-built in the same facility.

How much more would you like a perfectly competent entry-luxury sedan such as Acura's TLX if it were hand-built, perhaps in, say, the same Performance Manufacturing Center (PMC) where the NSX supercar is assembled? If the answer is "More!" and you have some $50,000 to spend and a burning desire for an ultra-limited-production TLX that is built by hand by the same technicians who assemble NSXs, we'd both like to meet you and tell you that your Acura has arrived: the 2020 TLX PMC Edition. The special model made its debut at the New York auto show alongside a prototype of an otherwise normal MDX, which will be getting the same treatment.

We'll admit this is something of a head-scratcher to us. Typically, describing a car as "hand built" evokes imagery of Rolls-Royces, Mercedes-AMG engines, and other overt displays of uniqueness. The Acura TLX PMC Edition, on the other hand, looks pretty much like every other TLX, a car that is, of course, mass-produced in Ohio. It's a bit like claiming your cardboard Starbucks cup is "hand built"—that's certainly cool, but functionally and by all appearances it remains an everyday thing you drink coffee out of.

View Photos Michael Simari Car and Driver

Acura doesn't even shoehorn the NSX's hybrid powertrain into the TLX, or redo the interior in some wacky material or color. It simply fits the fancy equipment from the TLX Advanced trim and the sporty addenda from the A-Spec line to the same car, a combination not possible among ordinary TLXs. So, that's neat.

In fact, the only exclusive aspects of the TLX are its invisible-to-onlookers assembly method, a black-painted roof and door handles, a body-color grille surround, a numbered plaque on the center console, and Valencia Red Pearl paint, which until now has been exclusive to the NSX. The rest of the car is . . . A TLX A-Spec/Advanced. Time will tell what the next Acura in line for the PMC treatment, the MDX crossover, will look like, but our bets are on something similarly whelming.

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Consider the TLX PMC Edition a personal luxury, then. You, the person sending in the monthly payments on it, will know it's special, so what does it matter if no one else knows your TLX spent time in the womb next to a few NSX sports cars before being hand-delivered by Acura midwives—we mean, master technicians? Nor will it matter that no one knows what "PMC" means.

Even Acura seems aware that this exercise is largely without point; a video it released launching the TLX PMC Edition is titled "Because We Can." So there you have it: Acura has a facility that's NASA clean room–like in its spotlessness, staffed by skilled master technicians who know how to put a car together, and it's using those things to hand-make otherwise normal cars. We're told that the TLX and MDX PMC cars are only the beginning, however—Acura has yet-to-be-revealed plans for using the NSX facility for more involved special projects going forward.



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