Buick Ponders Another Crossover, CBS Showed It to Us First
A TE based crossover for Buick is not yet green-lighted.
www.gminsidenews.com
June 22, 2009
By: Nsap
Last week during a spot on the
CBS Early Show regarding the future of General Motors, they showed a GM design studio that was showcasing a clay model of a future vehicle. It was obvious that the clay model was of an upcoming Buick vehicle and it appeared to be a crossover. GMI has since confirmed what that proposed design is of and the status of the vehicle itself.
Firstly, it is a Buick model, but it is NOT the next-generation Enclave like some have speculated. GM has been kicking around the idea of building a Buick crossover on the Theta-Epsilon platform. This is the same platform that underpins the all-new Cadillac SRX. The clay model from the CBS spot is a design study of Buick's possible TE crossover. The shown design is not that of anything final, simply a study of the possible design direction of the car.
The wrinkle in this is that the TE-based Buick crossover has NOT been green-lighted for production as of yet. The GM Product Board is still pondering on the idea of it. GMI has been told that their hang-up with it is that they fear Buick will have too many crossovers in the Chinese market and that they will compete with each other. Buick is about to replace their GL8 model, which is a minivan-like vehicle with a MPV based on the Opel Zafira. Their fear is that the new MPV and a TE crossover would be too similar. It should be noted that the North American market is not going to be getting the Zafira-based Buick. That vehicle will remain exclusive to the Chinese market.
A decision regarding the Buick TE crossover is expected fairly soon. Stick with GMInsidenews for the latest. We will also be hearing more regarding the upcoming Buick Regal soon!