The 2010 Acura ZDX, shown here at its debut, during this year's New York Auto Show, will be critical to building momentum for the Honda luxury brand.

It’s turning into a busy year for Acura, the luxury arm of Honda Motor Co.  The oldest of the Japanese brands is launching an array of all-new or updated models, from the new ZDX crossover to the V-6 version of its TSX sedan, in a bid to gain momentum in a market that’s both crowded and sluggish.

The success of the new products will be critical for Acura, which was the first of the Japanese luxury brands – but which also seemed to lose its way, in recent years.  The Honda subsidiary has been struggling to create a true brand identity that differentiates it from better-known competitors, such as Lexus, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Unlike those competitors, Acura has taken a generally conservative approach to its products.  It’s aimed for the lower to middle luxury market – unlike Lexus, for example, with its big LS sedans and LX sport-utes.  And Acura has opted against the V-8s, V-12s and performance-based hybrids that help define other luxury brands.

As a result, analysts contend, it has remained an also-ran in the high-line market.

With the products on tap for 2010, Acura hopes to better define itself, suggested Gary Robinson, the brand’s assistant product planning manager, during a visit to Detroit.  Indeed, the Honda marque is hoping that it is perfectly positioned for the times.

“We’re definitely seeing a change in the way people think,” including the way they perceive luxury products, Robinson told TheDetroitBureau.com  “The early part of the decade, people were buying flashy products, but that’s changing,” he added, to something more in line with the Acura approach which is – if it doesn’t seem like too much of an oxymoron – value-based luxury.

During a background briefing on several new 2010 Acura products, Robinson suggested the brand is “all about” technology.  In fact, it is adding a number of new features for the upcoming model-year, such as Active (or radar-guided) Cruise Control, and a new rearview camera that can switch between three different viewing angles.

But, on the whole, there are no real breakthrough systems.  Virtually everything can be found elsewhere, and not just on luxury products from the likes or Lexus or BMW, but even on more mainstream models, such as Ford’s newly-redesigned Taurus sedan.

“We’re committed to a simple strategy,” Robinson explained.  “We’re not going to put something out there just because we can…and then add a lot of cost to the MSRP.”  So, if Acura doesn’t see strong consumer demand, “We’ll be slow to put (a new piece of technology) on and see if it’s the right way.”

Among the new features the brand is rolling out for 2010, an all-new 6-speed transmission is a good example.  It is launching on the top-line crossover, the MDX, and will likely phase in across the Acura line-up over the next several years.  But even General Motors, slow to modernize its powertrain technology, has moved more quickly on 6-speeds.  And most luxury imports are moving to even more advanced 7- and 8-speed automatics.

Like its competitors, Acura has substantially expanded its line-up from the early years, when it launched with just a sedan and coupe version of the once-formidable Legend line.  The most significant addition for the coming year will be the ZDX, a coupe-like crossover that has some basic similarities to BMW’s X6.

The target audience is the aging Baby Boomer, someone who is likely an empty-nester who no longer needs the seating and size of a big MDX, Robinson noted, but who still likes the flexibility and functionality of ute-like products.

What might be next?  “There are no gaping holes in our line-up, the product planner cautioned, adding that with the ZDX launch, “We’ll have a pretty thorough line-up, with the important bases covered.  But Robinson hinted that there will likely still be opportunities to create all-new models that target changing tastes and lifestyles.

Certainly, industry observers said, Acura will feel the same pressures as its competitors to go after the city car segment targeted by products like the BMW 1-Series or Audi’s A3.

A decade back, Acura took some severe hits for its decision to abandon the well-known Legend nameplate and adapt an alpha-based naming strategy.  Some observers say that decision alone set the brand back significantly in terms of consumer recognition and sales.  With other makers, like Cadillac and Lincoln, adopting similar naming policies, Acura’s position seems more viable.

The other challenge has been to make Acura products more visually recognizable.  Across the line-up, you’ll see the expanded use of the marque’s bright shield-like grille – which some critics have derisively dubbed, “the beak” – in 2010.  Robinson defends the signature styling feature as something that makes Acura products stand-out, even in the rearview mirror.

Perhaps, but skeptics remain.

“These are nice products, overall,” said Stephanie Brinley, auto analyst with AutoPacific, Inc., but she insists Acura remains quite vulnerable.

Mainstream products, especially domestic models, are making a big push to increase their technology – and to improve their quality, closing a gap with mid-level imports like Acura, Brinley added.  At the same time, high-line import makers like Lexus are also squeezing in on Acura, which means “They have competition coming at them from both ends…and are in danger of being lost.”

With so many new models for 2010, Acura hopes to prove the critics wrong, but if it can’t make measurable gains in market share, if not sales, in the coming year, the Honda subsidiary’s long-term future could prove uncertain, at best.