Beleaguered Buick aims for elegant, sophisticated
Knight Ridder News
11/19/05
PITTSBURGH - Buick, the linchpin around which General Motors built its empire, lately has been part of the problem rather than part of the solution for the struggling automaker.
Like other GM makes, analysts say, Buick has been slow to respond to changes in market tastes, has kept cars on the market for too long without significant changes and has a lingering consumer perception of quality control problems.
It also is beset with problems unique to Buick. Two of its most familiar models, the Century and the Regal, have been replaced by the new LaCrosse, and the same thing is occurring with the Park Avenue and the LeSabre, which are being replaced with the new Lucerne. "The brand is really in a state of flux right now," said Tom Libby, an analyst with J.D. Power & Associates.
It's a change Buick felt it had to make - and a challenge on which it's pinning its future. Executives are counting on the Lucerne to account for 40 percent to 50 percent of the company's sales in coming years and, coupled with the new LaCrosse, to represent 80 percent of all Buick sales, said Margaret Brooks, Buick's marketing director.
The goal is to make the Buick name synonymous with "elegant, graceful and incredibly sophisticated," she said - characteristics that marked Buicks during the brand's heyday, when the division's share of the domestic market stood at nearly 7 percent in 1982 and 1983. It actually sold the most cars in 1985 - 941,611. But in a year that saw overall auto sales jump, that was only good enough for a 6.5 percent share.
Buick has been slipping ever since. So far this year, its share of the domestic market stands at 1.7 percent, with sales down 8.5 percent from a year ago, when it sold 266,881 vehicles through October.
To counter the sales slump, GM has been forced to offer steep incentives, including a popular employee pricing program most of the summer and, more recently, new discounts on most Chevrolet, GMC, Pontiac and Buick vehicles through Jan. 3.
Whether the new discounts and Buick's new models can turn around the brand's fortunes remains to be seen, but Libby, of J.D. Power, isn't hopeful.
He doesn't think revitalizing the storied nameplate will be easy for a Buick name that struggles to appeal to younger buyers. "They have one of the oldest average ages in the industry," he said.
In its golden years, Buick was clearly a medium-priced powerhouse for GM, making big sedans, hardtops and convertibles with those toothy chrome grilles, sweep spears and portholes.
Most consumers knew exactly what a Buick was - the car you bought if you were successful but didn't want to be flashy. Cadillac filled that latter void. And there weren't the complications of foreign makes to worry about because there weren't many around.
But once Honda's Acura, Toyota's Lexus and Nissan's Infiniti showed up later in the '80s, the market changed. And the BMW 3 Series, which was priced smack up against some of the better-known, upscale U.S. brands, became the darling of young professionals.
But don't count Buick out, analysts say.
Despite its troubles, Buick owners still connect with the brand.
"They have one of the highest loyalty ratings of all the brands in the industry," Libby said.
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