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The Rebirth of Buick.........

418 messages,  Last post on Nov 23, 2009 at 3:57 PM

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#14 of 418
Re: The Rebirth of Buick......... [cooterbfd] (Re: The Rebirth of Buick...) by andre1969
Sep 22, 2008 (5:42 pm)
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Replying to: dtownfb (Sep 22, 2008 5:38 pm)

Here are the numbers that matter for Buick. In the calendar year 2002, Buick sold over 432,000 vehicles. Calendar year 2007, they sold roughly 186,000 units. And through August 2008 (7 months), Buick has sold about 99,000 units, down 21% compared to last year.
 
Just to show how far Buick has fallen...in 1983, they actually outsold Ford!
#15 of 418
Re: The Rebirth of Buick......... [cooterbfd] (Re: The Rebirth of Buick...) [andre1969] by dtownfb
Sep 22, 2008 (6:07 pm)
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Replying to: andre1969 (Sep 22, 2008 5:42 pm)

Just to show how far Buick has fallen...in 1983, they actually outsold Ford!
 
Wow!!! I couldn't find numbers that far back.
#16 of 418
Re: The Rebirth of Buick......... [cooterbfd] (Re: The Rebirth of Buick...) by andre1969
Sep 23, 2008 (4:32 am)
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Replying to: dtownfb (Sep 22, 2008 6:07 pm)

I don't know how easy those numbers would be to find online, but I have some old car books that list production. Also, I should note that this is for cars only. If you combined Ford cars and trucks back then, they still would have been a close #2 behind Chevy.
 
The 1980-83 period was a bad time in general for the domestic auto industry, but GM weathered it pretty well. Chrysler was actually back on track by 1983, paying their gov't secured loans in full that year, way ahead of schedule. But they were also a leaner company, and learning to survive on smaller volume. Ford was actually a wreck around that timeframe, too, but their troubles weren't as well publicized as Chrysler's.
 
Anyway, in 1981 I think it was, Oldsmobile slipped past Ford and into the #2 position, and then Buick slipped into #3 for 1983. By 1984 though, Ford was on the rebound, as the economy improved, sales of the aero T-bird took off, and the Tempo proved a sales hit. I think they moved ahead of Buick for 1984, and then ahead of Olds for 1985, and a few years later they were outselling Chevy.
#17 of 418
Re: The Rebirth of Buick......... [cooterbfd] (Re: The Rebirth of Buick...) [fintail] by sls002
Sep 23, 2008 (6:18 am)
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Replying to: fintail (Sep 21, 2008 4:13 pm)

I owned a 91 Reatta. It was not sports car, but it was not a bad car. On the other hand, the Riviera of that period was probably just as good. I would point out that the Mercedes SL's in the 70's and 80's were not sports cars either and did not compare with the 300SL gullwing. The Reatta was a cheap SL knockoff of sorts and much cheaper than the Allante. Why GM thought they could sell both the Reatta and the Allante is beyond me. Neither sold well.
#18 of 418
. by sls002
Sep 23, 2008 (6:27 am)
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I have owned numerous Buicks, the last was the 95 Riviera. I liked the Buicks because I got a lot of the stuff that was otherwise only available on Cadilliacs, such as fully automatic climate control. The interiors were nice, but not overstuffed like the Olds Regency or Cadillac d'Elegance. But the 95 Riviera interior was too plastic for my taste, as was the 98 Aurora. I think that the Cadillac interiors on my 2002 Seville and my 2007 SRX are closer to what Buicks should have.
 
I don't know if Buick's sales decline is related to the cheapening of the interiors or if it is a result of Buick offering very few models in the last ten years. Before Olds was dumped, Buick only offered the midsize and full size cars, basically two platforms. Now they offer three platforms.
#19 of 418
Re: The Rebirth of Buick......... [cooterbfd] (Re: The Rebirth of Buick...) by fintail
Sep 23, 2008 (7:21 am)
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Replying to: sls002 (Sep 23, 2008 6:18 am)

My judgment of the car is more on the owner than the car itself
 
It seems the Allante was as close to an SL as a period SL was to a gullwing.
 
GM was arguably at its most clueless in the late 80s and early 90s. And that's saying something.
#20 of 418
Re: . [sls002] by fintail
Sep 23, 2008 (7:24 am)
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Replying to: sls002 (Sep 23, 2008 6:27 am)

A co-worker of mine inherited a lowish miles 94 LeSabre from his grandparents. The upholstery itself is OK for what the car is, but the interior plastics and the dashboard itself are pretty laughable. I can't imagine it being any better when the car was new, either. The car has held up decently otherwise, but the insides don't make one think of a quality product.
#21 of 418
GM has released its by nippononly
Sep 23, 2008 (8:25 am)
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so-called "Top 10 Production Vehicles" (of all time), for its centennial, and Buick doesn't bear a mention:
 
http://www.autoobserver.com/2008/09/gm-chooses-its-best-ever-cars-money-making-t- - rucks-noticeably-absent.html#more
 
Indeed, Saturn, Cadillac, Chevy, and Pontiac all make the list with at least one vehicle, heck even SAAB makes the list (with a vehicle that was designed WAAAAY before GM had ANYTHING to do with Saab), but Buick gets dis(mis)sed...
 
...the list does not represent top sellers or anything, as the Silverado also is not on it. I guess I don't see the case for Buick being anything more than a Chinese division of GM in future, and if GM has nothing good to say about them for the centennial, maybe they are thinking the same way?
#22 of 418
What about gas mileage? by yanker
Sep 23, 2008 (9:13 am)
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Buick would get a lot more consideration if they would just raise gas mileage figures by 8-10 ^
#23 of 418
Re: GM has released its [nippononly] by fintail
Sep 23, 2008 (9:18 am)
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Replying to: nippononly (Sep 23, 2008 8:25 am)

A 1910 Caddy and the accepted milestone of the 1912 car? Certainly something else could be seen as more significant than the 1910 car. Even the space-efficient dowsized models, or maybe the early FI applications. Or for a Buick, maybe the first Century, which was a predecessor of the "performance" (for the period) sedan. The Saab is a dorky choice too, as well as the mention of GM tanks in neutral Sweden, and the idea of a 1930s Opel not being "politically correct" is silly.

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