What could Camaro mean for Buick?

[buickguy]

With GM making the great decision to build the Camaro, I'm wondering if this could impact Buick? Might they make a Velite or Riviera off the same platform?

[ehaase]

GM will make a Lucerne off the same platform. Anything else is speculative or wishful thinking at this time.

[trinacriabob]

With GM making the great decision to build the Camaro, I'm wondering if this could impact Buick?  Might they make a Velite or Riviera off the same platform?

178424[/snapback]

The Riviera should NOT be on the same platform. The Velite could and should, though.

Seriously, the Riv, if it were to ever come back, ought to capture that market with the same aplomb as when it was first released (unkown experience to me). However, I know that people salivated. That is the emotion a resurrected Riviera ought to evoke.

[GMman]

Forgive me for not doing a search and reading through millions of posts for this answer, but.....

the lucerne replacement is going to be built off the zeta platform?? I didn't realize they could get such a large car out of that platform...? Is that going to be somewhere in the 2010 range?? And if they could build a lucerne off of that platform, why couldn't they build a new Riviera?? I agree, if they build a new Riv, it needs to be awesome....

Edited August 19, 2006 by GMman

[ehaase]

And if they could build a lucerne off of that platform, why couldn't they build a new Riviera??  I agree, if they build a new Riv, it needs to be awesome....

182188[/snapback]

They could, but they probably won't because big coupes don't sell well anymore.

[Sixty8panther]

They could, but they probably won't because big coupes don't sell well anymore.

182240[/snapback]

Just like:

In Theory in before 1989 when the Miata hit showrooms

it was declared that there was no place in this world for

cheap sports cars... in 1982 some retard decided that

the future solution to all of man's automotive problems

would lie in FWD and then later in the late 1990s if you

told a layman or a dumb journalist that affordable RWD

would come back in a huge way & also that Chrysler &

Dodge would be the ones to get us RWD sedans with

Hemi V8s they'd say:

There's no market and such products will not sell.

Time to stop saying stuff like:

"big coupes don't sell anymore"

If GM builds a Riviera again they'll be the first ones to

prove this erroneous thinking wrong.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

They could, but they probably won't because big coupes don't sell well anymore.

182240[/snapback]

No truth to that, really. If the car is properly priced and styled (along with a good powertrain) a big coupe could sell about 75,000 cars a year. The 1996 Thunderbird was a, more or less I suppose, big rear-drive coupe and it sold with similar numbers as to the ones I estimated at. To me, the reason the Thunderbird went away as a four-seat coupe was due to dated, anemic styling and a dated, anemic powerplant. It wasn't how the car was packaged, it was just, well, the car.

[ehaase]

If you won't listen to an idiot like me, maybe you'll pay attention to Evok. I love big coupes like the Riviera, Lincoln Marks, the big Thunderbirds, etc., but the market for big coupes is dead.

http://www.cheersandgears.com/forums/index...69entry156069

Edited August 20, 2006 by ehaase

[wildcat]

You're not an idiot. No self-deprecation, please.

Signed,

- Your Friend

[Cananopie]

There is never no-market for a certain type of vehicle and big coupes still have a market. But honestly can something that looks like the Solara even begin to accomplish what a Buick could look like if designed properly? And especially if it's on the same exponentially better track the Lucerne and the Enclave were designed off of...

When you see a certain type of vehicle gone from the market for a little while (and big coupes have been gone for a while now with no real great ones being made today) they can come back. We're not talking minivans being replaced by SUV's here, we're talking about a one-of-a-kind vehicle that there is NO replacement for. You can buy a small couple or a big sedan but those aren't the same.

A fantastic beautifully styled Buick coupe would not only make Buick's image go through the roof with younger potential buyers, the market is lax currently and Buick can have a virtual monopoly on elegantly styled big coupes... the only reason big coupes aren't popular anymore is because people forgot how to design them...

The last gen Riv than was only selling 10k a year by it's final run probably had a lot to do with the fact that they only offered the Supercharged option and that is something not a lot of people are willing to commit to. That typically means if you want to treat it right you need to give it a lot better gas. THe non-supercharged Riv was cut in 96 or 97 and so by the time 99 came around and the vehicle had been out for a while and it wasn't offering many options- of course it's not going to sell great.

A big, elegantly styled, Buick coupe, filled with options will get people pouring in to a Buick dealer just because people can actually drive around with some God damn style again. Enough with the sedans... that market is supersaturated and you probably will not obtain that many more sales appealing another vehicle in that market than you will in a market that you can control- like the big coupe.

It's time for GM to get some balls and pounce on a proper opportunity... nobody ever got big money by competing in a supersaturated market... it's always where other companies have let their guard down...

Edited August 21, 2006 by Cananopie

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Like I said, when it comes to poor sales, it's not how a car is packaged, it's just the car.

[Sixty8panther]

Evok also thinks the V8 will be "dead" soon.

That thread destroyed any credibility he

might have had in my eyes. Not trying to

be a prick, just saying it like it is.

There is never no-market for a certain type of vehicle and big coupes still have a market. But honestly can something that looks like the Solara even begin to accomplish what a Buick could look like if designed properly?

182385[/snapback]

'Nuff said.

Edited August 20, 2006 by Sixty8panther

[ocnblu]

Fewer models, more bodystyles, more options. Do away with forced "option groups". Go back to a time when almost infinite personalization was the norm. Deliver the car in 3 weeks from factory order, with today's parts inventory control. Advertise this unique ability.

LaCrosse coupe, convertible, sedan, wagon. Trim levels clearly differentiated from the street. More color choices, inside and out. More individual options to lend a feeling of individuality, of exclusivity.

Lucerne coupe, convertible, sedan, wagon. Same marketing principle as the smaller LaCrosse.

This could be a luxury feature unique in the market, yet it would only hark back to a time when GM was the undisputed top dog in just about every category.

Exuding a confident attitude will win back that certain customer that Buick needs.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

...Are you making blue a permanant post feature, BluMan?

[ocnblu]

Nope, I just felt it was a breakthrough idear, so it needed more than my usual ho-hum bold type.

When I read it, it, like, makes me cry, it's so good. <----- Paris Hilton

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Nice, Blu.

[Flybrian]

Personalization at that level would be inefficient nowadays.

[ocnblu]

Infidel! :AH-HA_wink:

[Flybrian]

Heh. Its true. I'd rather see GM save some money to save Buick rather than be able to order leather seats with manual locks or some dumb option that no one would ever choose like that.

[ocnblu]

The ability to order a car just the way you want it (within a finite, but long, list of choices, of course) doesn't have to lead to logistical nightmares for the factory. Your point about leather seats and manual locks sort of supports my idea... not much danger of anyone ordering a car like that, so why sweat it?

Does anyone agree with my call for fewer models, but more bodystyles for each model? This would allow GM to effectively serve a wider market. The big spending, as I understand, is on the respective platforms. Reduce the number of platforms, but expand the variations on each...and voila, you please more customers.

[Camino LS6]

The ability to order a car just the way you want it (within a finite, but long, list of choices, of course) doesn't have to lead to logistical nightmares for the factory.  Your point about leather seats and manual locks sort of supports my idea... not much danger of anyone ordering a car like that, so why sweat it?

Does anyone agree with my call for fewer models, but more bodystyles for each model?  This would allow GM to effectively serve a wider market.  The big spending, as I understand, is on the respective platforms.  Reduce the number of platforms, but expand the variations on each...and voila, you please more customers.

183625[/snapback]

I agree.

I DESPISE forced options and silly option groupings that make no sense except to bean counters.

I also see the extreme value of offering various bodystyles for a single nameplate.