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Press Release: Buick Growth Outpacing All Major International Brands

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#1 ·
Buick Growth Outpacing All Major International Brands
Momentum speeds after three years of record global sales
2016-07-28
Buick



DETROIT — Among the top automotive brands — those selling more than 200,000 units internationally so far this year — Buick is growing at an unmatched pace. With 675,964 sales through June, Buick ended 2016’s first half up 20.1 percent over the same period in 2015.

In this year of rapid growth, Buick has risen to the fifth-largest passenger vehicle brand in China and is outselling key competitors including Acura, Infiniti and Lincoln in North America.

The growth has been fueled by core international products including the Encore small SUV, which this year surpassed a half-million sales since it was introduced 3.5 years ago. Encore has been a success story in every market, though North America has led the way thus far in 2016 with 36,365 sales through June.
*Full Press Release at Link
 
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#19 ·
Buick global sales were up 23.9% in 2016 (Jan to June)
Opel global sales were up 6.7% in 2016 (Jan to June)
Chevrolet global sales were DOWN 11.5% in 2016 (Jan to June)

As for China
Baojun (China's Chevy) sales were up 80.2% in 2016 (Jan to June)

Translation
Buick and Opel sales and profits (on cars and SUV's) are rising
Baojun will take a huge chunk of Chevy sales going forward and GM is not going to be able to do a thing about it and the Chinese (and China Gov't) will ensure it grows at Chevrolet's expense - just how Chinese Capitolism works.

What to do?

You know what is coming......

Buick/GMC/Holden/Opel/Vauxhall = GM's future, and GM must feed and nurture the "Brand".
 
#21 ·
They are good numbers, but hard to get excited when this is a Chinese success story and not one born out of sales in the USA. And absolutely nothing wrong with a China success story, just be more exciting if it was Buick USA leading the charge.

PS, don't know if I'd be bragging about beating out such "powerhouse" brands such as Lincoln, Infiniti and Acura (and probably Cadillac, but don't want to put that into the marketing :D)....
 
#22 ·
Despite GM's continued effort to increase global sales of Chevy and Cadillac, "Buick" (including Opel) seems to capture the consumer's mind instead--seemingly without their help.

Meanwhile, Chevy and Cadillac brass cry fowl to GM brass and they listen. Slowly, but, surely, the crying baby takes precedence over the quiet but successful one...

Ah, politics--and people thought this only happens once every 4 years...

Much like the other "failed" brands, the political gods at Chevy and Cadillac now have their sights on Buick.
 
#24 ·
Because Opels are freaking good cars that GM is hellbent on making fail in the US market. The Opel Astra was once imported as the Saturn Astra. It wasn't even nearly as good of a vehicle as the current Astra, but it was still a cool 3 or 5 door hatch. Yet, GM only offers the garbage 1.8 NA engine instead of the 1.6T or 2.0T. Oh, and for some reason Saturn seemingly wasn't allowed to advertise anything except for the Aura, which probably was only even advertised because it was North American COTY. OK, so Chevy gets Saturn killed, 2nd gen Aura becomes Buick Regal. It's straight up Opel Insignia. Gorgeous, classy car, with a great engine choice on top. So, uh, how are people going to know about it? No ads for it really, but GM tries to shove the Malibu down our throats (remember, at this time it's the last gen TRASH Malibu). Then Buick gets the Verano, which is a surprising renaissance for the brand in it's goal of changing its perception in people's minds. Yet, GM allows the car to grow stale, then cancels it. Enclave is like 1000 years old, Envision is built in freaking China, and LaCrosse is...well it's a nice car, but let's be honest about the large car market. Encore is a great car (if you're into that kinda thing), but can the entire brand of Buick rest on a mini crossover?

Maybe the success of the Mokka/Encore in the US market will teach GM to double down on the whole Opel = Buick strategy, but somehow I doubt it. Can't let Buick step on any toes! Buick is dead in the US market, and its sad because their lineup was heading for greatness. Just imagine a Buick Astra with the 200hp 1.6 or the 250 ft-lb 1.6 Diesel. Buick could, of all brands, have the best hatchback in the US market.

I have no doubt in my mind that Chevy and Cadillac will one day succeed in killing US Buick.
 
#39 ·
I find it ironical that we had so many Lincoln threads where the theme descended
into "Lincoln should cut its pries and be more like Buick" when in fact, GM is doing
the opposite and elevating Buick by raising the entry pricing.

To me, Buick makes sense as a premium brand between Chevrolet and Buick
but GM needs to get Verano and Encore up about $4K zone to around $27K
to give Chevrolet the product head room needed to flourish with higher trims.

Do those two things and Cadillac's price structure becomes more into focus.
 
#45 ·
I disagree with Buick increasing it's base price to become a premium brand.

Buick needs to drop it's base price to that of the Chevrolet equivalent 1LT trim.

Why?

Buick and Chevrolet vehicles do not compete against each other.

What GM needs to stop doing is giving Chevrolet built in competitors to Chevrolet products, the Cruze Hatch will compete with the Spark and Sonic more than the Focus since both are at the SAME dealer, no need to even go to a Buick dealer for "In-House" competitors when they are in the "Same Room".

Chevrolet vehicles compete with Ford, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai and Toyota vehicles - not Buick.

Buick vehicles need to focus on carving out it's own segment like Subaru has where they offer some unique products and build a buyer base on a theme (like AWD).

Buick must take it's China market model where it offers lower priced base vehicles that build the higher priced trims above it and combine it with Opel's market model where they are GM's only brand and must cover from base to premium.

To your point, the key is that Buick's lineup have a higher ceiling to allow Chevrolet the market space, not a higher floor.

Today's Subaru sales are not to "Typical Subaru buyers" since there just are not as many of them as Subaru is selling and Subaru has quietly become a brand with high resale values and one that connects with young affluent buyers and "family car" buyers - ever notice how many young "new family" owners are in Subaru ads, or older "family" owners? These are long term buyers who are likely to become lifetime buyers that move up the trim levels.

Not exactly the stereotypical tree hugger.

These buyers are also not typical Cadillac buyers either so there is no impact on Cadillac.

Buick can easily increase U.S sales 2X and not have any impact on Chevrolet sales or Cadillac since few of these new buyers will ever look at either.

GMC proved that this concept works as it has good sales volume and it is a known fact the there are few that will cross shop Chevrolet and GMC's products start at closer price points than I am suggesting. What GMC Denali does for GM is increase profits and for Chevrolet it raised the ceiling enough for Chevrolet to offer the High Country trim and GM sells both Denali and High Country where GMC stands alone and Chevrolet competes against it's real competitors of Ford and RAM.

Same can happen with Buick who will not have a direct competitor (good thing) and allow Chevrolet all of the room it needs to compete against it's real competitors of Ford, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai and Toyota.

It also increases global sales volumes for Buick-Opel to spread costs further while increasing profits.
 
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