Buick's future

[Camino LS6]

It would seem that GM is hellbent on doing something with Buick in NA, so the question becomes what, exactly, should Buick be?

To my mind, Buick should be elegant, high style, high comfort, high quality luxury without the burden of a performance orientation that Cadillac has to maintain. Im other words, Buick should be luxury and style without compromise. That's not to say that Buicks should not perform at a high level, just that no compromises of luxury or style be made on behalf of that performance.

Cadillac has to toe that line, Buick should be free not to.

Discuss.

[InvictaMan]

Guess I'm old school, but I liked the days when Buick was the sporty luxury division and Cadillac was the high end luxury division. Obviously, for Caddy to survive as the top tier in today's market and expectations, they assumed that role. I think it would be interesting to see how things would be today had GM not taken that direction and the GNXs and GS/GSXs were the CTSs of today. Buick has always been to me the GM brand that has no excuses luxury, technology and style, with a curvaceous, sporty flair; at a price that suited middle America. I miss the days of "American Spirit."

[Intrepidation]

Buick should slot between the everyman brand and the high end brand. Simple as that.

[Camino LS6]

Buick should slot between the everyman brand and the high end brand. Simple as that.

A bit lean on the details, don't you think?

[deftonesfan867]

Buick needs to be the Lexus fighter and Cadillac needs to become the standard of the world again. Leave the FWD lux to Buick and give Cadillac all RWD except for the SRX since even the Euro's have FWD based compact SUV's.

[Z-06]

Buick should slot between the everyman brand and the high end brand. Simple as that.

DF that tells us its location, not its essence.

• Do you want it to FWD or RWD or a combination?
• Do you want it to be cars only, or a cars + SUV/crossover?
• Do you want one car lineup or cars with different sizes and shapes?
• Do you want them to handle like BMW, or just float like Lexus or a match of both?
• Who should be Buick's customers?
• How will it share with Caddy and Chevy?
• How will it be differentiated from Caddy and Chevy?

[CSpec]

There's a difference between the whimsical ruminations of what the perfect model lineup would be, and what is actually attainable at the cash-strapped GM at death's door. I agree that Buick is capable of making a fine product that rivals Lexus, but the image is so damaged I don't see how they can fix it within any reasonable amount of time with no money.

[Brougham-Holiday]

Buick needs to be the brand that is the definition of American cars. Big, powerful, and built to withstand time. It needs to be beautiful without offending, needs to be powerful, and quiet. Both FWD and RWD models should exist with a price range of $30k+.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Buick should slot between the everyman brand and the high end brand. Simple as that.

+1

Camino, all this whine and no cheese ...

[gm4life]

Buick needs to be the Lexus fighter and Cadillac needs to become the standard of the world again. Leave the FWD lux to Buick and give Cadillac all RWD except for the SRX since even the Euro's have FWD based compact SUV's.

You know what I think you might just be right. Give Caddy RWD/AWD and give Buick the FWD Acura/Lexus stuff. That would work out well.

[loki]

it should be able to do well if it can be styled well, have a clearly upscale interior, smooth, powerful quiet engines.... if it's based on stuff from chevy, i don't care... but it just has to be worth it... not like the W-body clones (for the most part)

[§carlet §wordfish]

Ideally, Buick and Pontiac would be perfect complements to each other, representing separate halfs of, if you will, the "budget BMW": Pontiac would be the no-nonsense, RWD performance half, while Buick would be FWD, more elegant with refined comfort and luxury features. Cadillac then would be the merger of these two sides, being of both RWD high-performance and uncompromised luxury. This way no brand would intrude on another's territory.

Without a strong (or any) Pontiac, Buick can still be like I described above, but it will need to add more sporty options to maintain a presence in the entry/mid-range sport-lux segment.

[Dsuupr]

Buick needs to be the brand that is the definition of American cars. Big, powerful, and built to withstand time. It needs to be beautiful without offending, needs to be powerful, and quiet. Both FWD and RWD models should exist with a price range of $30k+.

Though I like your idea, I'm not sure that fits in with what the government will require and desire for tomorrow.

I think Buick needs to take a leap and make the BEST small luxury cars any maker has ever built. There is nothing wrong with a small car if they spend the money and energy to do it right. A strong lineup for Buick tomorrow might be:

Volt like product - Yes I do think this is one time GM should make sure every division gets a platform. It doesn't need the flair of the Cadillac, or the simplicity look of the Chevrolet, but it will need luxury details that the current Volt is definitely missing.

Compact Super Luxury FWD sedan - Take the beauty and cues of the upcoming LaCrosse and make it the size of a Cobalt. It should be available in hybrid, and standard 4-cyl models.

Regal (small mid-size sedan) - Just as they have shown, making sure to have a high output 4-cyl and hybrid model available.

LaCrosse (large mid-size sedan) - Just as they have coming up, but add a hybrid 6-cyl version

Enclave (just as it is) - Adding a hybrid V6 model similar to that of Lexus (more power, better gas mileage)

IF additional money exists:

Lucerne (large sedan) - Available in AWD only. Can be a super stretched Epsilon platform if needed. See LaCrosse for engines, and if still legal and possible, one V8 or supercharged V6 option.

[Dsuupr]

To respond to smallchevy's post:

* Do you want it to FWD or RWD or a combination? Mostly FWD with AWD options (like acura).

* Do you want it to be cars only, or a cars + SUV/crossover? Mostly cars with the Enclave staying.

* Do you want one car lineup or cars with different sizes and shapes? Yes, see previous post.

* Do you want them to handle like BMW, or just float like lexus or a match of both? More lexus, less BMW.

* Who should be Buick's customers? Those that have "made it" but don't want to flaunt it. Similar to acura owners.

* How will it share with Caddy and Chevy? See previous post.

* How will it be differentiated from Caddy and Chevy? Caddy = Stand out luxury, Chevy = a vehicle for everyone, Buick = mid-luxury, aimed at professionals that don't like the overtly flaunting style of Cadillacs.

[Camino LS6]

+1

Camino, all this whine and no cheese ...

What whine?

I'm looking for a definition for Buick, since it doesn't currently have one.

A general statement of where it "slots" doesn't cut it.

[wildcat]

I had posted this already when GM presented its viability plan, and (despite what may become of Pontiac and GMC) I think it still gives an idea of how Buick relates to Chevrolet and Cadillac.

Chevrolet:

-Brand Positioning:

• Expressive Value

• High Value Appeal with High Retail Volume

- Dealer Throughput:

• Growing to match Toyota in large markets

Buick-Pontiac-GMC:

- Brand Positioning

• Buick: Sophisticated Quality, Luxury and Craftsmanship

• Pontiac: Youthful & Sporty – with niche focus

• GMC: Engineering Excellence with Capability and Functionally

- Dealer Throughput:

• Growing to match Nissan in large markets

Cadillac:

- Brand Positioning:

• Performance Luxury with Aspirational Appeal

• Global Luxury Brand

- Dealer Throughput:

• Growing to match Mercedes in large markets

The "brand positioning" statement explains it. In simplest terms, Chevrolet (good), Buick (better), Cadillac (best).

Edited April 10, 2009 by wildcat

[Camino LS6]

• Buick: Sophisticated Quality, Luxury and Craftsmanship

I agree with this and some of the more specific ideas already posted.

Buick needs its essence to become something understood.

With, or without Pontiac, and GMC.

[wildcat]

Similar to its brand positioning, Buick has used the phrase "The craft of modern luxury" on its website. (Remember, they said Buick would get a new advertising slogan/tagline this summer, no doubt with the LaCrosse going on sale.) While I thought it would be "The craft of modern luxury," someone else suggested "Modern luxury illuminated," which I believe was used on some LaCrosse promotional literature.