wildcat

A story which ran a few days ago in the West Bend Daily News told of a guy, "A Buick man, 50 years running," who especially liked Roadmasters. For all Buick and Roadmaster fans, to view the article, click here.

Los Angeles Times writer Dan Neil reviews the Buick Enclave in his article, "A Buick crossover plays to more than front row." he states, "There will be a lot of hearty back-and-forth about whether the Enclave meets or beats the standard for mass-class luxury, the Lexus and Acura. Not quite. But the deficits are small and fixable." To view the entire article, click here.

Oldsmoboi: I agree, a perfect name!

Here's a follow-up report from tradingmarkets.com: click here

thegriffon: Thank you very much for clarifying. My error in using the word "next."

The website tradingmarkets.com today reported that Shanghai GM has rejected the next Buick Excelle developed by Taiwan's Yulon Motor Group. To see the article, click here.

cire: Well said! Buick (and Pontiac) are assets. If they became "damaged," as Lutz said, it was because GM damaged them.

buickguy: Thank you for spotting this! It should be fairly easy to figure out what Buick in North America will get by watching Buick in China. So I'd say the additional models could be a Riviera first (in fact, I could swear I read that GM said it'd have an announcement about that at the L.A. or Detroit Auto Show) and, a few years later, the NG Park Avenue will take the place of the Lucerne. Other possibilities: a smaller crossover and a smaller sedan - if China is doing these. But I'd say no to Velite - too much time has gone by, and the Enclave and the Riviera concept ("the new global face of Buick") are the new design templates.

I would never question AH-HA's knowledge. Yet if the photo (per se) is fake, doesn't it still seem like a reasonable "rendering" of what the vehicle probably looks like, going by those spy shots of the dark blue Traverse in public?

Buick remains the beautiful one.

I haven't seen any '08 LaCrosses, but I have seen several Buick Enclaves around Chicago - and each time, I know exactly what they are and they look great. (And this afternoon, I saw a white Saturn Outlook in a parking lot and it, too, easily dominated anything else around, both in look and proportion.)

Call me cuckoo but I see a little Buick Enclave and Buick Centieme in this. In the extreme left photos of the 2nd and 3rd rows. The lights, the muscular sweep of the rear quarter, and the roofline.

This would be one occasion where a name change IS in order. LaCrosse has the wrong image, judging by the present vehicle. Regal would be much nicer. Especially if it'll be Regal in China, might as well have it Regal in North America.

Personally, I'm relieved that the old models (Rainier, Rendezvous, Terraza) are finally removed from Buick's homepage. (Although you can in a couple steps click on "discontinued models," I suppose for people who are saying what happened to the Century, LeSabre, et al.)

I always like viewing photos of a gathering of Buicks, and I had never before seen the interiors of the '51 LeSabre, '38 Y Job, and '00 Blackhawk concepts. ehaase: Though I've most frequently seen the Buick GSX in yellow, the white one in photo #10 looked good, too! P.S. - Best regards to you!

Five Buicks from GM's historic collection were put on a display in a one-day show in Kansas, and photgraphs from the event are beautiful! Here is a direct link from the Wichita Eagle.

Just yesterday I read that the Buick Enclave would not be sold in China. Today I happened upon this article on the Auto Channel's website. Click here.

In today's Detroit Free Press, Katie Merx writes some very positive things about the Buick Enclave, and offers a couple of interesting quotes from Bob Lutz. Mr. Lutz states, "The future of Buick does not hinge on the success of the Enclave." Rather, he said, to return Buick to its historic role as GM's "near-luxury brand" in the United States, it must continue to offer vehicles in that same vein. "There will never again be a 'cheap Buick,'" Lutz said. "They will never again be priced down with Chevrolet.But they will offer outstanding value for the price asked." To see the entire article click here.

Buick fans each have their own ideas about what Buick needs to be competitive. Today, Mark Phelan of the Detroit Free Press posed a similar question to various auto analysts. Here is a direct link.

Car and Driver today reported that Buick will get a fourth model at the end of the decade, and it's likely that it will be a sedan and/or convertible based on the Velite. Here is a link to the story: http://www.caranddriver.com/carnews/13083/...-for-buick.html

An article by Rick Popely and Jim Mateja in today's Chicago Tribune, "Age-old battle for Buick: Models aimed at younger buyers haven't helped the venerable GM brand reverse a long trend of its buyers being among the oldest in the auto industry -- at 65, nearly 20 years above the average," has some interesting facts. And it also claims that "Global Insight forecasts that a smaller crossover, a version of the Saturn Vue, will arrive in 2008. In 2009, the LaCrosse is expected to be redesigned and renamed Regal, bringing back a popular nameplate. The front-wheel-drive Lucerne could be replaced by a larger rear-drive sedan in 2010, perhaps as the Riviera." Click here for the entire article.

Would the slogan, if that's what it is, be used for China, too? I guess it would be ok there, too.

While viewing buick.com, I noticed the Buick tri-shield logo and the words "Drive beautiful." Could that be a new advertising slogan (replacing "Beyond precision")?

Just so I haven't misled anyone, Lutz' comment that they have no money or platform to build the Velite was not from today's Detroit News, it was from another interview a while back.

Let me say upfront that I cherish the old model names such as Wildcat, LeSabre, Invicta, Roadmaster, etc., admittedly out of sentimental reasons - reasons which, I suspect, in today's business world and society, mean little or nothing at all to the average person. I'm a Buick fan / GM follower in a Toyota-Honda world, a different world altogether. But if Buick doesn't change from the old model names, the public will keep associating any new cars with the ones from the past, which, admittedly, have image or perception problems (and the problems I'm referring to certainly are not limited to Buick). GM will likely only be talking to current Buick owners, and they need to expand their customer base. If Buick continued to use the old names like Century, everyone else may assume, "Oh, it's just a newer Century... yeah, my grandfather (or whomever) had a Century." By changing the model name and trying to present and market something new, GM has a chance to reach someone new. Northstar: I think you're correct, with the exception of, in GM's mind, Riviera. Ninety-Eight Regency: I contend that all of GM's brands were damaged, in varying degrees, by no one other than GM itself. Poor management, a lack of vision, a lack of ideas, an interest in fast money rather than long-term, a bloated bureaucracy, hesitation to change, greed. first comment, to Bob Lutz: The Detroit News today had an interview with Bob Lutz and showed him in his office, with a beautiful picture of the Buick Velite on his wall. C'mon Mr. Lutz, how can the car be good enough to have on the wall in your office, but GM "can't find the money or platform" to build it? Maybe he's a closet Velite supporter, and will push harder for it after Enclave is a success, we hope. second comment, to select people: To all those people who want to limit Buick to 3 models ("No, don't give Buick a this, don't give Buick a that..." ), why should Pontiac get 5 or 6 models? In combined world sales (NA + China), Buick still sells a respectable and comparable amount, all the more impressive because it's with such poor products at the moment. Where's a halo car for Buick? Spare me the stories about GM not having money, but they have enough to build a new El Camino (yeah, that's a high priority vehicle). third comment, to fellow Buick fans: Personally, I'm unimpressed with Buick's China line-up. The LaCrosse has nice styling, but is based on an old platform. The (current) Royaum is ugly, the Chinese GL8 minivan nothing special and we all know GM's feelings about minivans in the US, the Excelle is nothing special, the HRX is not appropriate as a NA Buick. I'm happy that Buick enjoys prestige and good sales in China, but NA Buick has better design, better products, more on the level of what Buick should and can and, hopefully, will be in the future. If you want to see what the NA global RWD Buick should be, click here and scroll down to post #84 (posts are numbered on the right).