Buick's Future May Be Chinese!

[regfootball]

i still don't get why the BRANDS need to go. ITS THE DEALERS THAT NEED TO BE SHED.

[gmcbob]

If GM sells Buick they can go f*** themselves because I;ll never buy one of their products. I already got F***ed when they shut down Oldsmobile, my dad feels f***ed because of all the crazyness around Pontiac (he bought a new one 1 1/2 yrs ago) and now Buick. I'm about ready to call it a day and head over to Chrysler or Ford.

I've been having similar feelings lately - considering I put my faith in GM by buying a Saturn last year and now Saturn is dead (and so is the car's resale value).

I'm seriously thinking that after this car, I may be switching over to Ford. Yeah, a new Ford Taurus "EcoBoost" SHO could definitely be a contender for my next vehicle.

[daves87rs]

i still don't get why the BRANDS need to go. ITS THE DEALERS THAT NEED TO BE SHED.

Usually helps when you can't sell the cars....

[SAmadei]

This still seems a little ridiculous since Buick would give GM a way to earn more profit off their FWD platforms. Buick has a little more wiggle room than either Chevrolet or Pontiac to go upmarket and offer higher profit premium FWD vehicles. Buick could pick up the next gen Opels to complete its lineup and actually turn into something cool, relevant, and profitable for GM. If GM unloads it, it will be yet another missed opportunity for the corporation.

Chevrolet needs to go DOWN market. Selling a high quality Malibu with few options for $13K. THATS how you get sales back.

[MyerShift]

Well, if all this comes through, it really seems as though GM won't be much of a concern at all.

I hate to say this because it's close minded, and rather foolish sounding, and the U.S. economy would be further hurt, but obviously GM is is more trouble than Chrysler or Ford at the current moment. This shocks me considering I really thought GM was on its way free and clear with products like the Solstice/Sky, Enclave, Aura, and Malibu.

[regfootball]

Chevrolet needs to go DOWN market. Selling a high quality Malibu with few options for $13K. THATS how you get sales back.

Chevy now has fallen below ford and hyundai in customer perception.

And it may be close to dropping below Kia at some point.

Under no circumstances should Chevy ever drop below Kia.

point though - toyota seems to be dropping in status. maybe not much just yet. but their run i think is being exposed. at the expense of hyundai's rise.

funny thing is CR is one of the biggest Hyundai bangers now. Amazing how such a lousy magazine can influence so many sales.

[saturnd00d]

GM is being Euthanized. This would be a(nother) dumb part on their behalf. They don't even fight for their cause, they simply comply with everything the gov't is telling them to do.

They are done like dinner. Buick should remain between Chevy and Cadillac. With a few exceptions aside, Chevy is vanilla, bland and boring. Cadillac isn't within the reach of every Tom, Dick and Harry, so in essence if you are a middle-class family and are comsidering GM, you have the option of buying CHEVY. Yay, let's all celebrate.

If they sell Buick, Pontiac will shortly follow. And though GMC doesn't cost GM too much money, I'm willing to bet that they will get the axe as well just because the gov't won't see a purpose of one automaker with 2 truck divisions.

This is truly sad.

[InvictaMan]

There just isn't any need for two truck divisions in one company, even Ford sees the logic in this. It's time for GM to quit hanging onto the GMC brand for the sake of nostagia. If they have to trim the BPG down to one brand, it must be Buick to make GM a well-rounded company. If you take away Buick, after all the momentum they have gathered over the last few years, you take away the models that are geared for middle America. Obama is all about middle America. I don't think he would push back the date for middle Americans to get their digital TV boxes and then force GM to do away with the brand that is classic middle America. The sad part of this is that Buick, to me, is the embodiment of American style. It has been difficult enough to water that down when the brand went global, but to give it away all together... that just un-American!

Oh, and btw, I posted this article, why is Dodgefan making edits to its initial content and taking credit for it as the poster when it hits the front page of C&G? That is just un-American too, lol.

[PONTIAC06]

Welcome to the [sarcasm]new and improved, [/sarcasm] thanks to Obama, socialist America!

GM should have just gone bankrupt before they sold their soul to the US Government. It was a bad idea from day one. Now they're going to have to sell off every piece of heritage they have in order to please the government and end up bankrupt anyway, leaving all of us taxpayers to pick up the tab because they won't be able to repay the money we gave them...Not that I'm opposed to helping GM out, but I'd rather do it by buying a car from a bankrupt GM than giving them my tax dollars that the government is going to waste away. At least through bankruptcy they could have told the unions to f**k off, closed plants, etc. without having to go through ridiculous negotiations just to be told they weren't good enough for Obama and his administration.

[enzl]

I've got to laugh when posters think Obama's administration has anything to do with GM's fate.

Things have been f'ed up for years...this crisis has exposed the Emperor for wearing NO clothes!

Bush & Obama threw both GM (and inexplicably Chrysler) a lifeline! If anyone here knows anything about the banking business, they'd know that banks set the terms for loans all the time. In this case, the government has basically said that they're not going to throw YOUR tax money into a black hole...how is that a bad thing?

GM gets to survive in some fashion (albeit not in its current, FAILING form) and the taxpayer, who is involuntarily funding this whole thing, has some protections that money isn't being flushed down the toilet. Why help and not get GM back to fighting health? It simply makes no sense, from any perspective.

Edited April 9, 2009 by enzl

[G. David Felt]

There just isn't any need for two truck divisions in one company, even Ford sees the logic in this. It's time for GM to quit hanging onto the GMC brand for the sake of nostagia. If they have to trim the BPG down to one brand, it must be Buick to make GM a well-rounded company. If you take away Buick, after all the momentum they have gathered over the last few years, you take away the models that are geared for middle America. Obama is all about middle America. I don't think he would push back the date for middle Americans to get their digital TV boxes and then force GM to do away with the brand that is classic middle America. The sad part of this is that Buick, to me, is the embodiment of American style. It has been difficult enough to water that down when the brand went global, but to give it away all together... that just un-American!

Oh, and btw, I posted this article, why is Dodgefan making edits to its initial content and taking credit for it as the poster when it hits the front page of C&G? That is just un-American too, lol.

Hey Invicta Man, in regards to DF taking credit? Nope, he has only posted twice in this thread and never takes any credit just injects his thoughts like the rest of us. In regards to the edits, that is normal for a forum administrator to clean things up, spelling errors, etc. Keeping the posts on track etc. He is just doing his job and pretty good at that.

You have all the credit as you brought us this great blog post to discuss. Thank you.

In regards to you comment of two truck divisions. I think you have missed something here, GM is seeing GMC as that mid level auto business. They have the mid level luxuey truck and suv business. They have had in the past excitement machines with the Syclone and Typhoon and so easily you could roll Pontiacs Excitment machines into the GMC name plate and the Buick business again also adds the mid level luxury cars to what should be a 3 tier company. Some of you might want to hold onto the Buick name here, but which name plate has less baggage? Buick still is related by allot of people to the senoirs auto line, Pontiac sadly has gotten the stigma of a slow dying company like Oldsmobil. GMC actually has a solid rep that is much better in marketing than the other two. Getting it to a single brand name to cover the mid level line of trucks, SUV's, CUV's, car's and mid level lux performance is perfect for GMC IMO.

Rock on GM!

[Regalguy01]

GM, in my opinion, is an iconic anomaly. That is to say they have managed to survive the best and worst financial climates over the last century. However truth be told, and this from a devout GM fan, GM has been making ill-fated decisions for decades.

GM decided in the 80's to become a financial institution--not a car company-- cutting costs wherever it could to increase the profit margin and in turn committing some of the worst automotive atrocities our generation has seen!(see shameful cadillac cimmaron with equally terrible quad 4 engine) This trend continued in the 90's when GM decided to give the majority of it's development budget to the SUV/pickup truck designers because those were higher profit margin vehicles. My grandpa told me not to put all my eggs in one basket....but I digress. Then they decided the interiors were ripe for the cost-cutting initiative. The interior of my beloved 01' regal looks as if designed by tupperware enthusiasts. This is business suicide!! GM committed the horrible mistake of living in the then-present and not looking to the future. Even in the earlier part of this decade when toyota began making the ugly little prius, GM missed the opportunity to get in on the 'green frenzy' and now it's hybrids get little or no notice from the press and seemingly less from the car buying public. .

The latest half-baked idea is to sell Buick? Why would a company who is trying(and I thought making headway) to show the world its cars are world class in design, performance and quality, sell the one brand that most trumpets that cause?(see J.D. power survey most recently released) Granted the 1st gen Lacrosse was a bit lackluster, but with the Lucerne came vast improvement as well and a true contender in the large car segment. If the Lucerne was modestly successful, the Enclave is a down right automotive jewel! It has garnered praise from even the staunchest anti-GM critics and crusaders and this 2010 Lacrosse promises to be even better.

So, the case can be made for GM to say screw everyone, file for bankruptcy and run itself like a car company again.

Long life to BUICK as part of an AMERICAN car company!!!

Long live GM!!!

Edited April 10, 2009 by Regalguy01

[Lance Truthhammer]

This is probably a good thing. Since Buick offers cars in that liminal area between luxury and value it kind of limits what Chevy and Cadillac can offer, you potentially have divisions competing against each other. That is not necessarily a bad thing. I suppose there will always inherently be some overlap, but I imagine this kind of move would allow for more focused products from Chevy and Cadillac. Personally, I think GM should get rid of GMC. There is no reason to have two divisions with such similar vehicles; and it is probably not a great idea, given current trends, to have a division that makes only trucks and SUVs. I would like to see GM keep Pontiac for niche and sporty cars (Vibe, Solstice, G8?). But, I wouldn't lose any sleep if they decided to get rid of Pontiac.

[toesuf94]

This actually makes more sense than selling the other brands. After all, Buick is the stodgiest of all the GM brands. No one takes it seriously except for the die hard blue hairs.

It will be sad to see GM systematically dismantled but its better than losing the whole company. I would hate to see GM lose its position in China. They need to work something out to stay ahead in the emerging Chinese market.

Really? The Enclave is selling only to blue haired ladies and old men with tennis balls mounted at the bottom of their walkers? Buick has begun pulling younger people into the fold lately, and you say this? The new LaX is beautiful and WILL bring young, import would bes into the showroom and onto the roads in a new Buick.

We have freinds in Shanghai that drive Buicks, and they are absolutely beautiful cars over there and make the N.A. offerings look like crap. Buick sells a ton of cars to younger buyers overseas...if they offered the same products here, they probably would attract a younger crowd as well.

[titan]

If GM sells Buick they can go f*** themselves because I;ll never buy one of their products. I already got F***ed when they shut down Oldsmobile, my dad feels f***ed because of all the crazyness around Pontiac (he bought a new one 1 1/2 yrs ago) and now Buick. I'm about ready to call it a day and head over to Chrysler or Ford.

+1. The more I think about it the more I may wash my hands with GM if Buick is sold. It's a bad business decision and it's a bad nostalgic decision. Buick is GM's oldest brand, and the one by which the rest of the company was built around. But more importantly, the division just tied with Jaguar as the most reliable nameplate. We've got the Enclave, and now the Lacrosse coming, which seems to finally live up to GM's promise of a real, tangible turnaround in it's sedan offerings. Also, Buick's enormous popularity in China is a plus for GM. It shows that it has a brand that flourishes overseas and that it's fate is tied solely to the NA market. Chevy is GM's only other truly global brand right now (I look forward to Caddy getting there, but it's simply not there yet). If there were to be only three NA brands remaining, it should be Chevy, Caddy, and Buick, IMHO. Besides all of the rational reasons above, I personally love the Buick brand above all others from GM. We've had many in our family.