Acura and Lexus, the luxury offshoots of Honda and Toyota, respectively, both got off to strong sales starts in 2001, posting record sales figures for January. Acura posted its best ever January with sales of 12,391, a 38.4 percent jump from January of 2000. The previous January record of 10,087, set in 1990, was bettered by more than 22 percent last month as Acura continued to gain momentum on the strength of core new models including the 3.2 TL sedan, 3.2 CL coupe and the MDX luxury sport utility vehicle. Following a record year in 2000, Lexus posted best-ever January sales of 15,623, up 13.3 percent from the same period last year.