Dream Up? Or Dream On?

Denis C
20-03-2005

For quite some time, I’ve been wondering what was going to happen to my favorite brand. We’re a rare and unique group of people in modern times, those who actually appreciate a quiet comfortable ride in a nice luxurious car, rather than flying around a track at 200 mph. In a market flooded by “enthusiasts” who care only about performance, one can’t help but wonder, are there enough of us to support this great brand?

A rich past
Buick had its start in the very early 1900s, and has been a big name in the auto industry since that very first day. They’ve also always been a big part of GM ever since it was formed. It’s a brand that has a rich history and heritage, one filled with great success, and with innovation which changed the world, or at least the automotive industry forever, many times in its long existence. Some of the many ways they’ve contributed, is by being the one who introduced the overhead valve engine, also they were the first to mass produce V6 engines. Yes, their story definitely is a long and interesting one. In recent years however, there’s been a big change, and it hasn’t exactly been for the best, or at least, not for the brand in general.

A troubled present
Yes, their cars are in fact still good, I drive a 2002 Century Limited and I love it. It has decent power, decent fuel-economy, it’s very comfortable and has all the features that I ever could want and more. However, while I love it, a lot of other people wouldn’t agree with me, especially people who are around my age. Most 20 something year-olds would say that it’s an old person’s car. Their reasoning behind this is what? They’d probably state one of the following usual reasons, the styling is too bland, handling isn’t good enough, they’re slow, etc. Most of these are just misconceptions and aren’t really even true, but to anyone who has never driven one of the modern Buicks, they wouldn’t know better. I was guilty of thinking that way until I’ve driven this one, only after trying the Century out did I see that these old stereotypes aren’t true at all. The vast majority, however, especially among the “enthusiast” crowd, just won’t let you tell them this, I know because I’ve tried. While I’m aware that they’re not quite BMWs or anything like that, I was basically told to stop trying to convince them of the lies that I was personally convinced of in my own head. Before you think I’m crazy, maybe I should tell you that I didn’t do this to people at random, no, I did this on car forums, whenever I had the chance.

During that time, I’ve noticed how everyone seems to believe that the brand, even though they’re rated on top when it comes to quality or reliability, is no good. Why? Because people have certain perceptions attached to every badge. Buick seems to be associated with big floaty land-yachts that are both slow and have poor handling. The one thing I hear the most, which gets associated to the name or the Tri-Shield badge is “granny mobile”. While in fact, though that’s the demographic that seems to be doing most of the buying, that’s not what they’re all about. What they are about, is building the traditional American car, the traditional big comfortable, powerful American car.

The problem however is that there doesn’t seem to be all that many people who want this in a car anymore. Nowadays, it’s all about 0-60 times, top speed, the ability to take a 90 degree turn at 150 and the badge it wears. It’s a shame really, but that’s the way it is.

An uncertain Future
For the reasons that I’ve mentioned above, I am uncertain about the brand’s future. Sure, there are still quite a lot of us around, but a lot of the older folks who drive them aren’t going to be around forever, which means that their customer base is shrinking and will continue to shrink; which is going to lead to their demise, unless they can lure younger people to the brand. They’ve been trying that these days with some of the newer products such as the LaCrosse/Allure, which has had some success, but I’m guessing, not to the extent that they were hoping. I mostly see younger people driving them, yes, but not that many are as young as they would’ve liked to attract, and I’m not seeing them by the truckload everywhere I go, like you do with other cars that are on the market.

Of course, like most of you, I don’t really know what’s going on either, I’m not sure what the future holds for them, especially with all the bad news that’s been popping-up lately about GM and what seems to be their imminent demise. What I’ve seen so far however, isn’t very encouraging, considering that the LaCrosse isn’t the hit they were hoping for, the Lucerne is a LeSabre and the Velite sedan and coupe are apparently cancelled now? (Along with the Zeta platform) Please GM, say it isn’t so!

I think they should give the market over here the same attention they’re giving it in China. No, I don’t want a Buick Sail or something like that, but where’s the Royaum? Where’s the new Regal? They were on the way as far as I know, but with the Zeta platform dead, this probably means they’re gone too.

A redesigned (and renamed) Century and LeSabre probably aren’t going to cut it if they want to head the brand in an all-new direction and try to get a new customer base. If they want to succeed, they’re going to need to pull-off a Cadillac style renaissance and start over completely as a whole new brand. I’d suggest them to still be about more traditional American luxury though, rather than the “luxury with attitude” which Cadillac is doing.

These are sad days indeed, with the future of one of my all-time favorite brands in question and GM as a whole in a quite perilous situation. I just hope that if they need to chop another brand, “The Spirit of American Style” doesn’t become nothing more than a memory of GMs successful past, and a legend in the automotive history books.