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Automotive News & Views The Rebirth of Buick.........
421 messages, Last post on Nov 27, 2009 at 3:10 PM
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Mar 26, 2009 12:41 pm) The only thing I'd worry about is that the Buick version might end up not being all that much nicer than the Chevy version. GM is starting to learn that you can't build inexpensive cars cheap anymore. Witness the Malibu, which is pretty nice inside, even in base trim. I really don't see the Saturn Aura as being more upscale looking inside, although I do like the exterior style better. And I'd say the Malibu is actually nicer inside than the G6! Even the Cobalt, for all the ragging it takes, isn't that bad inside, at least IMO. The only problem though, is that as these low-end cars get nicer, they start pushing up into Buick territory. And Buick can't go too high up, or else it'll start competing with Cadillac. Maybe they can pull it off, though? I hope they can. And Buick has had reasonably successful small cars in the past. The 1980-85 Skylark, in spite of being on the infamous X-car platform, was a decent seller and had a good enough following that it didn't tarnish the name. In contrast, the raps that its siblings got ensure that the names Phoenix, Omega, and Citation would get consigned to the history files. The 1985-91 Skylark/Somerset Regal were reasonably successful, too, if not smash hits. And they certainly seemed like a lot more car than the Corsica and Beretta! 
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Mar 26, 2009 12:41 pm) But look what happened to the compact Volvo - people quickly figured out it was not better in most respects than the Mazda3 with which it shares pretty much everything, and now it is being discontinued! The S40 is a PERFECT example of the pitfall Buick MUST avoid if it hopes to attract anyone to the brand with a small car offering. I have little to no faith that Buick will be able to avoid this pitfall.
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Replying to: nippononly (Mar 26, 2009 3:22 pm) But a poster said that the Volvo versions of Ford vehicles had special steel rather than the mundane steel used in Fords. I believe the poster was comparing the 500 with a Volvo. Isn't there a quality difference in the S40 and Mazda? An S40 parked next to us in the garage in Cincy his week. I wasn't impressed. I was impressed with the baby Mercedes C320 on the other side. Your point of having a definite value improvement in the Buick version is well taken.
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Replying to: imidazol97 (Mar 26, 2009 5:10 pm) |
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"I have little to no faith that Buick will be able to avoid this pitfall." Would that imply that GM has learned nothing about brand differentiation and segmentation since, say, the introduction of the X-cars in 1979?
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Replying to: andre1969 (Mar 26, 2009 12:51 pm) The Corsica was a coarse car and the Beretta was a disgraceful namesake for the fabled Italian gunmaker. |
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Mar 27, 2009 5:27 am) Little to nothing, yes. It is obvious they are basing the new baby Buick on the Cruze. That's a bad start right away. I just don't see this as being the start of a resurgence of Buick, not even close. If nothing else, look to the complete makeover of Saturn that has happened over the last two years. And Saturn still has.......declining customers, and so few of them that the Saturn brand has been cancelled. Buick has less customers than Saturn had BEFORE its makeover, and the "rebirth" is based on much less than Saturn's was.
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Replying to: nippononly (Mar 27, 2009 6:34 am) This probably isn't the way to go either, but if they're just basing this thing on the Cruze, then IMO they should badge it as a Pontiac. That'll give the Buick/Pontiac/GMC dealers a small car to sell, and, well, nobody really expects a Pontiac to be a nicer car than a Chevy these days, anyway. If Pontiac goes away totally though, I wonder if Buick would end up taking the same route Chrysler did? Once upon a time, Chrysler was a prestige brand, probably moreso than Buick, as they didn't do "small" big cars like the Buick Special/Century. Also, a Special was a lot cheaper than a Windsor, while the New Yorker was more expensive than a Roadmaster. Nowadays though, cars like the PT Cruiser, Sebring and the 2.7 version of the 300 really should be Plymouths. So, if Pontiac went away totally, I guess I wouldn't gripe too much if they just badge-engineered a Cruze into a Buick, to give those dealers something to sell. I know I shouldn't encourage the badge-engineering that GM does, but if forced to choose, I'd buy a G5 over a Cobalt, and a Torrent over an Equinox...partly because I've always been more of a Pontiac fan, but also partly because I think they look nicer than their Chevy counterparts. I don't fool myself for an instant into thinking they're better cars than the Chevy versions...I just happen to prefer the style. So I guess I could see a Buick fan choosing a Cruze derivative over the original, if looking for a small car. Still probably not the right route for Buick to go, though. |
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I'd like to think otherwise, because you'd think that all the pain,humiliation and stress of the past several years would be jolting wake-up call, but you may be right. Going forward, I'm more concerned about the risk that Washington's involvement may force the automakers to produce cars that can't be sold profitably. It'll be interesting to see how things unfold.
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Replying to: nippononly (Mar 27, 2009 6:34 am) See, it's a statement like this that would leave me to believe that the "baby Buick" should just go away, never to see the light of day. I would agree, if it is based on the "Cruze", it's bad. But to base it on the "delta" archetecture that underpins the Cruze, is not. Otherwise, how does GM build a "baby Buick" and make money?
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Automotive News & Views The Rebirth of Buick.........
