Quote:
Originally posted by desmo9+Mar 12 2004, 06:17 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (desmo9 @ Mar 12 2004, 06:17 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-chev454ls@Mar 12 2004, 04:34 PM
They need something exciting to bring in younger buyers, plain and simple.
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And that silly, 1991 minivan ain't gonna do it.
As for the GN and T-types? Lloyd Reuss, of Stempel/Reuss ouster fame, oversaw the brand at the time of the turbos. Even though they are the most memorable Buicks of the past three decades, he was flamed pretty badly at the time for making Buick a more performance-oriented division. People felt he was abandoning the core, geezer buyer, and that Pontiac should be the division tasked with offering exciting, youth-oriented cars. To some degree, that's true. If Pontiac becomes an American BMW, then what kinds of youth-oriented products would Buick need to deliver? I guess the LaCrosse is the type of car that'll appeal to people aged 45 and up, more conservative than Cadillac, but not as boring as Lexus. Unfortunately, I don't think LaCross is much less boring than Lexus. But it is more conservative than Cadillac. Maybe gets a grade of B? But how will Buick really cater to people under 35 without stepping on Pontiac or Cadillac's toes? Maybe it doesn;t have to. The age 45 and over market will always be huge, and all won't be into the edgy contemporary stuff like Cadillac. If Buick improves it's image, the DTS and STS won't have to be so softened up in order to appeal to everyone. All Cadillac models can stay leading-edge, and Buick can go after the well-heeled softees. [/b][/quote]
I agree with desmo9 (and Ming).
Buick absolutely can be saved, though I'm thinking it's not going to happen with half-hearted attempts like the LaCrosse, Rainier, or Terraza. And I'm hoping, despite what the article indicates, that the LeSabre and Park Avenue are more than just the big brothers to the LaCrosse.
Buick doesn't need to have completely unique platforms or parts. Like Ming indicated, they just need to use the *right* parts from the GM parts bin. There are plenty of good offerings, though these premium parts come at a higher cost, something that GM seems reluctant to justify when deciding which parts are shared with Buick (engines are a perfect example).
From a historical perspective, when Buick was successful, it seemed to occupy a near-luxury niche, appealing to people not unlike myself, a more affluent professional who desires an understated (don't read: cheap) near-luxury car without wanting to justify a luxury car price. I'm perplexed that they seem to be searching for an identity; the answer is pretty obvious. They simply need to rediscover their heritage and translate it to 21st century autmobiles (Grand Nationals, Roadmasters, Century's, Skylarks, and Terraza's need not apply).
"...The idea is to reinvent the charisma Buick once displayed with its big, beautiful cars of the 1940s and 1950s. That vision will be shown off in April, at the New York Auto Show, in the form of a long, elegant rear-wheel-drive convertible prototype called Vélite." No sh!t, Sherlock. If you can do that without necessarily emphasizing the word "big," you've got yourself a winning plan! Buick already plainly possesses the quality and reliability that seems to elude other makes, several of which occupy the luxury market. The point at which Buick fails [quite miserably, I must say] is in design and engineering. Nothing about what sits on a Buick lot screams elegance or sophistication (nope, cars designed in 1997 like the Park Ave don't qualify as sophisticated). However, cars like the Velite, at least what I can discern from the single picture making its way around the web, hold promise. If the same type of design and high-quality engineering philosophy can be translated to several coupes and sedans in the $25,000-$45,000 price range, then 500,000 units per annum in the US without incentives seems very reasonable.
"...These days the likely buyers are flocking instead to Lexus and Mercedes-Benz." Boy, are they ever going to regret going to Mercedes; talk about problem-prone automobiles! (I had to add that dig).