I have observed that 8 out of every 10 people I see driving a Buick appear to be over 55.
Is there any data available showing the demographics of Buick ownership?
And if my observations are correct, why? What is it about Buicks that older folks like?
Buick has absolutely no appeal to younger people. Zero sex appeal whatsoever. Even Oldsmobile has more cool cred. I think Buick understands this and so has concentrated on appealing to the older demographic instead of trying to be something they aren’t and ‘sex up’ their brand image to attempt to snare a younger crowd. The older drivers appreciate this and, since many of them have driven Buicks for decades out of tradition, they keep buying more Buicks. Because ‘that’s what they’ve always done.’ It’s unlikely that the brand will survive the next 10 years though.
This doesn’t answer your question, but for years GM maintained brands that were essentially based upon 1950s demographics. Dropping obsolete brands apparently was resisted by the auto dealers, who apparently had some political and legal clout. GM’s bankruptcy changed all that: they now have a more streamlined set of brands.
Buicks were traditionally marketed to “those poor suckers”: they were suppose to be one notch above a chevy and a notch below Oldsmobile. But GM kept the brand because it was wildly popular in China. And GM’s quality has gone up a lot over the past dozen years.
To whom are Buicks marketed?
GM maintains a slew of brands, some of which have considerable heritage. But there isn’t necessarily a huge difference between the cars marketed under different brands; sometimes the same model is marketed under two or more brands, and obviously any new model can be marketed under any existing brand, or a new brand if desired.
What is the point of maintaining all these brands? At a guess, to assist in a diversified and targetted marketing strategy. So, if Buicks are largely being bought by the over-55s, my first guess would be that Buick is the brand employed by GM to market to the over-55s.
Not really:
Saab- On sale
Hummer- Sold To Chinese
Saturn - Sold To Penske Group
Pontiac- Discontinued
Oldsmobile- Discontinued
Buicks and Mercurys.
Although 2011 is the last model year for the Mercury, their Grand Marquis shares the same market as Buicks in the US.
I think you have to present an AARP card before purchasing either one. 
So it’s not just me. You’ve noticed this too?
You’re overlooking Vauxhall, Opel, Holden and several others which GM maintains for marketing in non-US markets.
And, while the number of brands sold into the US market may have been reduced, there are still a couple that you have missed: Chevrolet and Cadillac leap to mind. There may be others. Is the Daewoo brand employed in the US market?
Maybe if Buick offered ‘cool cred’ as an option, younger people would buy them and then younger people would live long and prosper.
But probably not.
I bought my Lucerne three years ago at age 49. Tiger was hawking them at the time. Lest you suggest that 49 is old… I look, dress and act like, well, let’s just say alot younger.
My 15 year old daughter, who is not a car person at all, accused me of having an old folks car about a year ago… I started paying attention to other Lucerne drivers after that and have to admit that I don’t think I’ve seen one driven by someone younger than I.
I still like it.
Believe it or not, Buick is trying to sex up its brand image. The Buick LaCrosse? So named because lacrosse is a sport evidently popular with a younger demographic that Buick was trying to sell to. (No idea why they think that; I’m 22 and have literally never seen a game of lacrosse being played anywhere.) What’s even crazier is, apparently, that was successful.
Saab has already been sold, to Spyker. Penske did not buy Saturn, and the brand was discontinued.
As to the current market for Buick, GM has been repositioning the brand in the US to compete with Mercedes, Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti. Tasteful luxury, as compared to Cadillac’s kind of blingy luxury. The repositioning is going fairly well.
Buick actually sells a huge number of cars in Asia, many to the young professional crowd. Asians like big American cars, and Buick is one of the last companies still making the traditional full-sized sedans. A big American car has long been a status symbol in many Asian countries so those who cannot afford a Cadillac or a Town Car buy a more affordable Buick. However, lately Buick has been marketing themselves as a luxury brand catering to the newly rich Asian businessman.
Actually, Buick was just below Cadillac, above Oldsmobile and definitely way above Chevrolet, and marketed as a junior luxury class.
That’s not my recollection, although my understanding of the GM make hierarchy comes from my dad who has driven a Buick for decades. I vaguely remember him saying it went Chevy -> Olds -> Pontiac -> Buick -> Caddy.
Dad drove a Pontiac in the early '70s, then moved up to a Buick in the late '70s when he got a promotion and has driven one since. He truly thinks of a Buick as an upper-end car that doesn’t carry the high-and-mighty connotation that comes with owning a Cadillac.
This is correct. Alfred P. Sloan was GM’s CEO about 75 years ago and his marketing strategy was to make GM brands fit a particular stage of life. Basically, you were supposed to go, chronologically, Chevy - Pontiac - Olds - Buick - Cadillac (if you could afford it).
Also, if you’ve ever driven a pre-2010 Buick, you can feel that the suspension is tuned to make the car feel like it’s gliding. It feels like a boat at sea. Pontiac, on the other hand, is tuned for performance, which allows the driver to feel every bump on the road. I think older people generally prefer comfort over performance.
ETA: I might have swapped Pontiac and Olds…not sure…but I know it’s otherwise correct.
I think the OP’s “over 55” should be changed to “over 75.” I’m 65, and I don’t know of anyone my age who’d buy a Buick. Those cars are strictly for the black-socks-with-shorts crowd.
My first cars were hand-me-downs from my parents (who are, admittedly, old) - Buick Park Avenues from 1988 and 1992. Very comfortable cars! (So are their Lincoln Town Cars they drive now, which they are VERY upset about being discontinued.)
You forgot LaSalle. Sloan’s ladder wasn’t so much “stage of life” as “size of wallet”. He wanted to assure that as the customer could afford a more expensive car, they could stay with a GM product. He found that he had two major gaps - between the entry level Chevrolet and the Oldsmobile, and between the Buick and the Cadillac. He acquired a company called “Oakland Motors”, which became Pontiac to fill the gap between Chevy and Olds. The gap that existed between Buick and Cadillac in those days was losing GM a lot of money to Packard and Auburn from customers who could afford a step up from a Buick, but not the leap to where the Cadillac was priced then. Enter the Lasalle, which was sold as a “companion car” to the Cadillac, and sold through Cadillac dealerships. Eventually, the gap between Buick and Caddy disappeared, and so did the LaSalle, which had increasingly come to resemble the Buick.
Here’s some data - http://www.thecarconnection.com/marty-blog/1044214_was-tiger-a-curse-average-age-of-buick-owners-finally-drops
Here’s some data from England - http://www.tescocompare.com/why/media-centre/press-releases/why_car_choice_and_age.shtml