Acura Just Trademarked Four New Names, Hinting At 3 New SUVs

Acura is getting ready for a product offensive. Parent company Honda registered four names—TDX, LDX, TYPE-TRAIL, and TYPE T—on October 16 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, covering automobiles and structural parts.

The timing lines up with Acura's own roadmap, which already promises three new SUVs starting in 2028. None of the four names has been confirmed for production. Honda's filings don't spell out which model would use which badge.

2026 Honda Pilot TrailSport

Photo by: Honda

TDX and LDX follow Acura's existing alphabet, where RDX and MDX already sit in the lineup. TYPE-TRAIL and TYPE T break from that pattern entirely as the hyphenated "Trail" name points toward something built for rougher roads.

Trademark filings get made all the time defensively. Automakers register names years before a vehicle exists, sometimes for cars that never reach production. A filing only confirms intent to protect a word.

Honda is also developing a new hybrid V6 for larger D-segment vehicles. That engine is a likely fit for a future three-row Acura flagship, especially one positioned as the brand's largest and most capable SUV.

That gap between paperwork and product is why this cluster of filings is being read as a clue. Acura has given the public far more detail about its actual product plans than the trademarks have.

2027 Honda Passport TrailSport

Photo by: Honda

Acura already told its US dealers what is coming. The brand's roadmap calls for three new SUVs, starting with an adventure-ready model Acura says will arrive in the first part of 2028. That vehicle is widely expected to take styling cues from Honda's TrailSport treatment, already seen on the Passport and Pilot.

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The second confirmed vehicle is a redesigned, fourth-generation RDX, coming to market in 2028 as a hybrid. Acura says it will be the brand's first model built on Honda's two-motor hybrid-electric technology, a meaningful shift for a model that has never offered hybrid power before.

The third piece is an eight-passenger SUV positioned above the current three-row MDX, intended as the brand's largest vehicle yet. This flagship model remains the least defined of the three, though briefings to the media suggest it will follow the 2028 arrivals toward the end of the decade.