If Buick was doomed, GM wouldn’t have shut down Olds and Pontiac instead, now would they?
Given the general level of business savvy evinced by GM management, you’re making an argument from authority here… and relying on a very shaky authority.
They sort of are in the new Regal. To be precise, they’re actually bringing in an Opel which has been sold as a Buick in China for a few years. I think it’s a car that could really help fundamentally change Buick’s image stateside. The Opel version of the car has garnered a lot of praise in Europe as a very good handling large car, and it will come with some pretty zippy engine options. It’ll even have a manual transmission and possibly a station wagon option, which are things we haven’t really seen much of from Buick since the good old days.
The average Buick owner is a man in his mid 60s and Buick is trying to change that image with a campaign aimed at urban buyers.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07011/753052-28.stm
Whether it will be successful remains to be seen. They risk losing their current buyers and not attracting new ones.
I know advertisers love to get the 18-35 demographic and I assume they know what they are talking about. But I wonder if that is wise because the country is getting older and they tend to have more money. Surely buying habits aren’t completely set once you reach 36 or 66.
Might work. The Electra 225, the “Deuce and a Quarter”, was the ultimate 80’s pimpmobile.
It was a Buick that caused my sister to have a midlife crisis and lose 140 pounds (and counting).
She and her DH were thinking about buying a car back during the cash for clunkers thing. They asked her in laws to co-sign the loan so they could get a better interest rate. The in laws refused, instead offering to give them their old car, which worked perfectly. So my sister took home this free Buick.
And then, she told me, she had a meltdown. “I felt like I was 90 fucking years old every time I got into the goddamn thing. I would seriously go to work, run my errands, and come straight home because I didn’t want to be seen in this stupid car. I hate it.”
She then took an eye-opening inventory of herself and her life. She didn’t self-identify as a middle aged, morbidly obese mom of young adults who drives a Buick. She started working out and changed her diet 180º. She had a come-to-Jesus meeting with her husband and basically told him that she intended to change her life. His support would be welcome, but it was not expected as she was the one changing the rules and she understood that he did not sign up to become a vegetarian jock. (He is a junk food eating rabid football fan. 'Nuff said.) Eventually, he was unable to make the changes with her, so she moved out. She took a second job to pay the lawyer for the divorce. As soon as that is all said and done, she will have cosmetic surgery to remove about 40 pounds of sagging skin left behind from all that weight loss.
Without that Buick, I would not have gotten my sister back. That said, I sincerely hope that the third thing she does, after the divorce and surgery, will be to go get herself a screaming hot sports car to drive the everloving shit out of. She deserves it. (And is a hell of a driver, btw.)
Ooh, if I buy a Buick, can I start wearing black ‘business socks’? With pleated khaki polyester/cotton blend shorts? And sandals? Wait…
… orthopedic sandals?
It is true, Buick tradiationally courted the over 55 market. These folks like cushy seats, soft ride, and big doors.
Personally, they are great cars…for tooling around in Florida. They have great room and great A/C systems -far better than the crappy A/C in German cars).
I think GM wants to retune Buick to appeal to younger folks-hence the new Lucerne model. Caddilac has changed, so can Buick