Off Track: Buick And Alpha

[BigAls87Z28]

Too Much Of A Good Thing Might Be Too Much
www.gminsidenews.com
By: Alex Villani

Outside of our imaginary cubicles here at GMI, we all talk to each other about various news, upcoming test cars, events, and we share any news we hear through our various sources. It was maybe a few months ago that our fearless leader and I were having a conversation about some news he had heard. Apparently there was talk of Buick wanting, and possibly getting, an Alpha-based halo car to continue it's product renaissance. Whoa, can that be right? A normal enthusiast would be jumping for joy! Yes, more light-weight, rear-drive sportiness from GM! A dream come true, right?

Wrong.

I rolled my eyes, let out a giant sigh, and said to myself, what the *expletive* are they thinking? Sure, it sounds great that Buick is getting their hands on one of GM's greatest platforms they have built in a very long time, but what exactly does it all mean? What is the point of having such a car for Buick? How will it fit in with the rest of the line up? How will this work with Opel, and lastly, how will this car fit in between Camaro and Cadillac?

When looking into how exactly this car would fit into Buick's line up, you have to look at what is working for them and what is not. Buick's line up consists of a three very nice looking, brownish sedans and crossovers that all ride very well, have very good interiors, and offer tons of luxury for a relative bargain. Sandwiched between the hot-selling Verano and flagship Lacrosse is the Regal sports sedan, the Buick that "zigs" if you will. The Regal drives remarkably different than the other two sedans, thanks to it's Euro upbringing as the Opel Insignia, clearly separating itself from everything Buick has ever made. Pushing the envelope further, Buick has brought out two turbo versions, with the top of the range GS model pushing 270 horsepower and nearly 300 pounds feet of torque, making it one of the most powerful Buicks to hit the showrooms since a certain dark and sinister G-body left us some 25 years ago.

All that performance and excitement has done very little for the Regal's sales numbers as they have taken quite the tumble over the last year or so. How could this be? Doesn't performance sell cars? Well, apparently not in the case for the Regal and that is really unfortunate because the car is a total blast to drive, at least the turbo versions. Now you could claim that the onset of higher pricing due to a shuffling of the powertrain deck, plus the addition of the Verano has eaten into Regal's sales, but if that's the case, would not Buick be smarter to make cars more like Verano? And it's not like Lacrosse sales have dipped all that much since it had it's own reshuffling, painting the picture that someone who is shopping Buick value luxury, refinement, and quality over performance and Brembo brakes.

Let us not forget that Buick has this unspoken alliance with GM's European brand Opel, and anything that is built for Buick should also be set to go on sale for Opel, and vice versa. How does this rear-drive sedan work for Opel? I'm sure the Germans would love to have access to the Alpha platform and build their own world-class sports sedan to replace the aging Epsilon-based Insignia. Question here is where do you build it? Is Opel going to be happy with an American-made sports sedan wearing their historic logo? Will German customers? We know that Alpha will be built in America as well as China, but opening another plant on another continent could hurt profitability because lets face it, such a car would be very low volume. And because it is so very low volume, it could never be a true replacement for the Insignia line, but mearly something different Opel can offer it's European customers. Sharing that space could also mean stealing sales, and stealing sales means stealing precious marketing dollars away from the more important Insignia. And that is not the only place where it could get crowded.

Like I mentioned above, this rear-drive Buick would be taking away precious resources from cars that have been used to more exclusive attention, namely Camaro and Cadillac. Having a Buick variant could strip away attention and add in additional cost to the whole system so that the Buick does not step on either of their toes. That means all new chassis bushings, all new steering tuning, all new spring rates and dampeners, different sized sway bars and the like. Lots of expensive testing, money that could go to help improve either Camaro or the Cadillac line up.

Let's say that all this does not cost all that much and that the tuning will be spot, landing between the two brands, then what? You drop back a little bit to the old ways of "badge engineering" by having several versions of the same car. What makes this rear-drive Buick different than a Camaro or an ATS? How many people are clamoring for a rear-drive performance sedan and coupe from Buick that they cannot get at Chevrolet or Cadillac? Sure, there is always price, but do you think that the price for Buick's variant to be substantially lower than Cadillac?

It has bad idea written all over it. The enthusiast inside everyone would love this as images of Grand Nationals and 455 powered Skylarks dance through their minds. The truth is that they need a solid line up of truly great luxury cars before they need a rear-drive performance sedan. If Buick were to move forward and take a piece of the rear-drive pie, I hope it is for a halo car that offers something truly for the brand and the market, namely a convertible. It is the only variant that makes sense to me while not diluting the brand, hurting the other brands, and taking advantage of the parts bin stuff as to keep costs down. So here is to the hope that Buick's adventure back into rear-drive is well thought out, and not done to just capitalize on the fame to just say that they have one too.

[ZR2nit]

Nice editorial Alex. I agree that Buick needs to focus on their line-up before going on with a RWD performance model. They should put a little more performance and add AWD. to the Regal first IMO

[Avalanche13]

Alex I think you are looking at this the wrong way. Why is RWD being seen as something to bogart these days? To the contrary I think GM should use RWD as much as possible in designing vehicles for all its brands. FWD sucks. RWD offers benefits to more than just sportiness. It also allows a car to look nicer with better proportions (longer hood, less overhang, etc), and makes for a better luxury land yacht than FWD. RWD delivers smoother acceleration, better weight balance, smoother steering, etc. All of these things enhance the ride quality and "feel" of a car regardless of its purpose. The LaCrosse would be a much more desirable car were it on zeta, as would the new Impala. You don't need to worry about differentiating the products, the brands themselves should be differentiation enough. Will there be some cross shopping? Yes there will. So what?

[GM-10]

I like your line of thought but it does break down to a degree when you speak of "badge engineering"

Badge engineering is the 80's a cars (ciera, celebrity, 6000, century)

This is platform sharing. I am quite sure the Volkswagen Group has proven that you can share platforms and have no identity crisis.

I would argue that Buick could build softer cars like the LS4xx of olde and move them quick.

I do agree that the Grand National as much as I revered watching go up and down the street in Westchester Co as a kid, is probably not the best use of a RWD platform.

It's just that rwd enhances even softer luxury cars too.

[vetterider19]

Could not agree more. I understand that the enthusiast folks are constantly talking about rear wheel drive and cutting weight in everyway possible (the latter is a detriment to safety in many cases as far as I am concerned). However, there is a market out there for people that want well equipped, powerful, front/all wheel drive cars, that are solid and heavy. The LaCrosse is a stunning car (especially in Touring trim) and the Verano is a great car as well. It's a shame the Regal is having such a hard time in the market because I think it is the best looking of the three sedans.

[Mentat Bashar]

Is the Cascada RWD? Why isn't GM making this a Buick yesterday? Why can't Buick have the Astra GTC as well to compete with the hot hatches?

I have a lot of questions about their strategy. Or lack thereof.

[Tone]

I posted this in another thread, but it seems relevant to this discussion:

I'm getting confused how the Code130, Camaro and Buick Alpha are going to be positioned in relation to each other, both in terms of character and pricing.

To me, there are roughly a handful of 'slots' open:

- small, nimble sports sedan/coupe/hatch
- stylish, sporty coupe
- muscle coupe/sedan
- serious performance coupe (balanced performance)
- sporty/lux coupe/sedan
- four door coupe

There are probably others, but the trouble for me is how easy it is to slot various potential Buicks, Camaros, Code130 variations into overlapping possibilities. Will the Camaro be a flingable,nimble sport coupe? Or is that the Code130's job? Will Buick get a sporty/lux coupe (Riviera?). Or we will get a Camaro Dusk production vehicle? Will the Buick be a muscle coupe (GN/GNX)? Or is that the Camaro SS's job?

The whole point of fewer brands is better differentiation, better products and more effective marketing. Overlap should be avoided and cars shouldn't compete against each other.

What I would propose is that serious performance cars stay with Chevy; Buick does sporty cars with lots of features and Cadillac offers all the features of Buick (and more) and all the performance of Chevy (and more). If that's the case, maybe we'll see:

Code 130: 1.4T/1.6T and 2.0T; sedan and shooting brake
Camaro: 2.0T, 6.2, 6.2 supercharged : base, RS (2.0T), SS/Z/28 (6.2), ZL1 (6.2 supercharged)
Buick Riviera, 2.0T, TT3.6, coupe and four-door coupe in base, GS, GNX trims (GNX is TT3.6 only).

That still leaves room for an ATS, ATS-V and CTS/CTS coupe with lots of performance, features, etc to justify their bigger prices.

To BigAl's point, Buick needs a specialty vehicle that goes beyond sedans and provides a unique expression for the brand -- while also working for Opel. A coupe and/or four-door coupe could be keeping with the brand (quiet, smooth, powerful, lots of features) while opening up an appropiate niche not well covered by GM.

[dantonj]

I agree. I would rather see cars like the Opel Cascada. A nice comfortable convertible, or the Astra sport wagon brought over as a Verano wagon. Not everyon wants an SUV.

[Dr. Show-Me]

Alex, I think you make some good points, then come to the wrong conclusion. The truth is Buick needs a solid line-up of truly great luxury sedan THAT ARE rwd and performance oriented.
We have seen diluted Buick Regal that could have been high performance and awd, yet GM left off the most powerful engines and left off awd. And then they're shocked it doesn't become a legend?!!!!!
Mark Reuss said it best, that Corvette would always be the highest performance, but below that, it's everyman for himself. So if you can build a better Buick, Just Do It!

[krusshall]

What if it were a RWD Riviera?

[jzchev28]

Personally I think they need to use this platform as much as possible. Get their moneys worth out of it and continue to develop it. I want a rwd car affordable 4 door with some performance, why does Chrysler/Dodge get to have all the fun?

[tajmioso]

Could not agree more. I understand that the enthusiast folks are constantly talking about rear wheel drive and cutting weight in everyway possible (the latter is a detriment to safety in many cases as far as I am concerned). However, there is a market out there for people that want well equipped, powerful, front/all wheel drive cars, that are solid and heavy. The LaCrosse is a stunning car (especially in Touring trim) and the Verano is a great car as well. It's a shame the Regal is having such a hard time in the market because I think it is the best looking of the three sedans.

I absolutely agree with this as well. It is my absolute belief that Buick should not get the Alpha platform in any variation but perhaps a small convertible or coupe called "Riviera." Even that's not really necessary since that same type of vehicle, for the exact same type of customer could be built off of Epsilon II. The issue at hand is that sometimes listens too much to the enthusiast. Enthusiasts are not the majority of the car buyers on this planet. 90% of buyers could care less about RWD. BMW learned this when they asked their customers. For the Regal to gain sales, it needs to better differentiated from the Verano in terms of size and packaging. Furthermore despite the Regal being a better driver, the Verano is a better car. Better looking (Regal GS not included) better packaged, and sized almost identical, at least to the eyes. The Verano looks like a baby Lacrosse, which quite frankly is one of the best looking luxury cars on the market from ANY maker IMO.

My remedy for the Regal would be for it to get the Lacrosses size, and the Lacrosse to get the XTS's size when the 2014s arrive. It's literally that simple. If Buick needs a Grand National that bad, they really don't have to do much more than give the Regal AWD and a 3.6L or Turbo 4 with 325HP+. Its really that simple

[GM-10]

I posted this in another thread, but it seems relevant to this discussion:

I'm getting confused how the Code130, Camaro and Buick Alpha are going to be positioned in relation to each other, both in terms of character and pricing.

To me, there are roughly a handful of 'slots' open:

- small, nimble sports sedan/coupe/hatch
- stylish, sporty coupe
- muscle coupe/sedan
- serious performance coupe (balanced performance)
- sporty/lux coupe/sedan
- four door coupe

.

I think there's room for a softer RWD luxury car as well. It wouldnt be my dream car. That being said a CTS sized car would be nice. Think softer luxury....like the LS400 or older Jags. There is room for doctor's cars still.

RWD impproves the feel of those cars as well. I agree a GNX makes almost no sense.

A LS4XX will always feel smother than a lacrosse.

That niche pays a lot of bills for Toyota.

Not my niche. Cadillac fills my idea of what i would want.

[GM-10]

The issue at hand is that sometimes listens too much to the enthusiast. Enthusiasts are not the majority of the car buyers on this planet. 90% of buyers could care less about RWD.

I agree that 90% of people don't care about RWD because they don't even know which wheels are driven.

That being said almost 100% of people behind the wheel of a LS400 or XJ (Softer Luxury cars) notice the refined drivetrain characteristics of RWD. These are the highest end "Doctor's cars"---they are extremely profitable.

I don't know the whole art and science behind how great Bordeaux wines are made. But, I can sure as hxl5 tell you that I prefer it to a Gallon of Gallo.

[john1168]

Good article and some good thoughts here. I love rear wheel drive. BUT, I too think this will result in too much product overlap. And I love the question: how much cheaper do you think the Buick version of the ATS will be? I think Buick should stay front/all wheel drive with their line up and be an affordable competitor to Audi. Buick could still have performance variants with turbos and performance all wheel drive set ups. I truly think that Buick should have done a bit more with their Regal GS, addition of the performance all wheel drive set up that already existed and more power. I think adding options like that would pave the way for having a performance oriented line up that would be more appropriate to Buick and provide some breathing room for Caddy and Chevy.