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

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

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#7 of 418
Re: The Rebirth of Buick......... [cooterbfd] (Re: The Rebirth of Buick...) by fintail
Sep 21, 2008 (4:13 pm)
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Sep 21, 2008 3:34 pm)

The vice-principal of my high school, who re-defined bland, drove a Reatta. That says it all for me.
#8 of 418
Re: The Rebirth of Buick......... [cooterbfd] (Re: The Rebirth of Buick...) [hpmctorque] by dtownfb
Sep 21, 2008 (4:55 pm)
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Sep 21, 2008 3:34 pm)

The problem I see is the Lucerne and LaCrosse were suppose to attract the younger crowd. Folks have been lukewarm to these cars. Not sure how a "re-designed" Lucerne will get this done. No one is buying them now and GM can not afford to market these vehicles the way they should. Like I mentioned before, they are already nice vehicles. No reason why more poeple shouldn't be buying them. Saturn has the same problem. Nobody knows about their lineup. People rave about the Malibu, Saturn had its twin, the Aura, a year earlier. Now you can't give away the Aura.
 
GM has too many brands. They can't afford to keep them all and support them properly.
#9 of 418
Re: The Rebirth of Buick......... [cooterbfd] (Re: The Rebirth of Buick...) [hpmctorque] [dtownfb] by cooterbfd
Sep 21, 2008 (5:32 pm)
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Replying to: dtownfb (Sep 21, 2008 4:55 pm)

Look at these comments:
 
 http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/19/spy-shotss-2010-buick-lacrosse-little-camo-pl- us-interior/
 
The Lucerne outsells the Avalon.
 
The current Lacrosse has been saddled with "looks like a 2nd gen Taurus"
 
The Aura's biggest hurdle is that there are only 500 dealerships in the country.
 
I doubt Traverse shoppers will be cross shopping the Enclave. 2 different price ranges. If the Enclave was too expensive, then the Acadia would drown out it's sales, which it doesn't
#10 of 418
LaCrosse and Taurus... by lemko
Sep 22, 2008 (5:43 am)
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side by side:
 

Taurus
 

2005 LaCrosse
 
Really. They're not THAT similar!
#11 of 418
It depends... by andys120
Sep 22, 2008 (11:53 am)
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The current Buick Lineup is a mixed one IMO:
 
-The Enclave is selling well but it isn't that impressive to me as I think the market is shifting to smaller, lighter CUVs (Vue, Flex, CR-V, etc.). It is really quite "trucky" when you see it up close, the interior of the less than top line version is no nicer than that of a GMC Acadia IMO and the damn thing sits so high that the old folks who like Buicks will find it hard to get into.
 
-The Lucerne has a crappy name but it's the only thing in the lineup with anything like the luxury land yacht appeal of the Buicks of yore. The styling while gimmick- free and clean is a little anonymous to my eyes.
 
-The Lacrosse OTOH has little appeal even to the oldsters who gravitate to Buicks.
You don't see many even in places like Florida and Arizona.
 
Nope, Buick has a ways to go before it's reborn.
#12 of 418
Re: LaCrosse and Taurus... [lemko] by nippononly
Sep 22, 2008 (12:30 pm)
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Replying to: lemko (Sep 22, 2008 5:43 am)

Actually, I didn't realize how similar they really ARE until you put pictures of them up side by side.
 
I think the best thing Buick has going for it is this new Chinese styling. That Riviera they are going to produce for the Chinese market is the best-looking Buick in a long LONG time.
 
And anyone contemplating the long-term future of Buick MUST at least take into account the strong likelihood that if Buick continues to be sold in the U.S. it will be Chinese-designed and built. China is a much more popular market for Buick, and the cars will eventually be designed and sold where they sell best.
#13 of 418
Re: The Rebirth of Buick......... [cooterbfd] (Re: The Rebirth of Buick...) [hpmctorque] [dtownfb] [cooterbfd] by dtownfb
Sep 22, 2008 (5:38 pm)
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Sep 21, 2008 5:32 pm)

Always amazes me how folks try to show success by comparing a GM product to a Toyota or Honda product. The Camry alone outsells the entire Buick and Saturn divisions.
 
BTW, Saturn had the same number of dealerships when it sold over 286k vehicles in 1994 with one vehicle. They sell fewer than that now with 5 vehicles.
 
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. Basically, they have dropped over 50% in 5-6 years and still sliding. Everyone acknowledges that the new car market will remain tight through 2009 due to the economic crisis. I'm not sure where these sales are coming from.
#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.

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