I'm guessing that an RL with a 3.5 liter 300 hp V6 and awd will be priced in direct competition with the A6 3.0, 530i and E320. Acura doesn't need to go up against the A6 4.2, 545i and E500 to do well in this segment. For the most part the V8 versions are halo cars for the entire model. If Acura tosses in some spiffy gadgetry that the Germans don't have (which although appearing utterly pointless to me, probably helps to sell cars) then they can probably achieve the same halo effect without offering a V8.

I do think Acura is finally coming out of its slump in full force. It doesn't have the as-good-as-German cache of Lexus or the really hot gottahaveit new models of Infiniti but the TSX, TL, MDX and now RL are genuine luxury competitors. They don't seem very exciting to me personally but I can see how the middle-of-the-road approach has the potential to sell a lot of cars.