By Brad Constant of AutoWeekThe 2012 Acura TL sedan debuted at the Chicago Auto Show on Wednesday with a new six-speed automatic transmission and a lightly refined chassis.
Visually, the front and rear bumpers were tailored to shorten the car's overall length, while the grille was moved further down the fascia to slightly lengthen the hood.
The TL's 3.5- and 3.7-liter V6 engines will be carried over from the current model but will pair with a new six-speed automatic transmission to improve highway fuel economy by 3 mpg. The 2012 Acura TL is rated to deliver 20 mpg in the city and 29 mpg on the highway. The six-speed automatic, which Acura calls Sequential SportShift, lets the driver command a two-gear downshift.
Watch Video: 2011 Acura TL
A six-speed manual transmission will continue to be offered on the TL Super-Handling AWD model.
For 2012, the TL's Technology package includes a larger, 60 GB hard drive for the entertainment and navigation system. The Advance package offers convenience features such as ventilated seats.
Jeff Conrad, Acura's vice president of sales, is optimistic that the 2012 Acura TL will be more successful than its predecessor, which launched in 2009 in the midst of a crumbling economy.
Conrad said Acura recorded 11 straight months of double-digit sales increases in 2010 compared with 2009, with a cumulative 27 percent rise in sales for the year.
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