The Acura CL is a midsize grand tourer manufactured by Honda's Acura brand from 1996 until 2003. The CL is often thought to have been a replacement for the Acura Legend coupe. It was not directly related to the first gen TL either, a Japanese-built model which replaced the Vigor and had a longitudinal engine layout. With the advent of the second generation TL in 1999, the transverse engined CL became more precisely a TL coupe. All Acura CLs were built at Honda's plant in East Liberty, Ohio, which is also the plant that builds the Honda Civic. The second generation TL and the Honda Accord upon which the Acura CLs were based, are built at Honda's plant in Marysville, Ohio, a few miles away from East Liberty. The CL was the first Acura to be built in the United States.

Acura is the luxury and performance division of Japanese automaker Honda, based primarily in North America. The brand was launched on March 27, 1986, marketing luxury and performance automobiles. Acura sells cars in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, and Kuwait. The company has also previously sold cars in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Russia, and Ukraine. Plans to introduce Acura to the Japanese domestic market in the late 2000s did not eventuate due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008.