Just last week, we were fortunate enough to stumble across some spy photos of the upcoming (and not yet announced) Buick Excelle sedan. Today, we got our hands on a whole slew of pictures of Buick’s compact sedan straight from China. Interestingly, the photos look as if they were taken at a photo event for the vehicle.
What’s more, the newest addition to the Buick lineup will officially wear the Excelle GT nameplate in China and will join the Excelle XT, the hatchback version of the same vehicle. In North America, Buick is expected to use the Verano nameplate for the same vehicle. It will most likely be powered by a choice of GM’s global Ecotec four-bangers, including the 1.6-liter turbo four (180 hp, 170 lb.-ft. of torque) or the 1.8L naturally aspirated Ecotec (139 hp, 130 lb.-ft. of torque).
So, what do you think? Does this vehicle look worthy to compete in the premium compact sedan segment? Lets us know in the comments below!
[Source: China Car Times] [nggallery id=126]
Comments
It is very Cruze. As I can see through these photos, Excelle is lower standard car than what Buick is marketing now in NA. It is not the car to push IS, 3, A4 out of the game. Not forgetting that it’s FWD. GM is re-building Buick name in form of more luxurious, better Quality, higher performance and young customer brand. Such car might not help.
What the simplicity of Excelle tells me, is GM would ruin all its effort to revive Buick if it introduced this car to North American Market. Excelle Hatchback XT (Opel Astra) could do much better than this dull, cheap looking car, since it’s built with European feel, performance and quality. (It could do great job against VW Golf)
Bawazir,
You nailed my point. The Excelle is not going after the IS, A4, C-Class, or 3-Series. The Cadillac ATS will be the warrior for that group. Buick should look at the Audi A3 and the upcoming Lexus CT200h as examples for the interior, since I think that is a low point on the Excelle or Verano. Buick is marketing this as an upper class compact car, but from the pictures it doesn’t look like that at all. How ever I will give it a chance when it comes here.
William – the problem with competing against such vehicles as the A3 and whatever subcompact Lexus is bringing our way is that there is no market for these vehicles. Let me rephrase that – there is a market – but it’s not the market that Buick should be going after.
For example – the 3er is the most popular luxury car in the world. It just happens to be a sports-oriented car as well… From a numbers perspective – it would make much more sense to go after the 3er (and its rivals like the C, A4, IS, etc.) than it does to go after the 1er or A3 – the compact segment is MUCH bigger – we’re talking 500% here!
So while the ATS will compete in that segment, I’m predicting that it won’t get anywhere near a 5% share in its first incarnation. And that’s just the nature of the market – you need huge marketing outlays (or a product that’s 50% better) to get any sort of noticeable traction in an already very competitive segment. While GM can do some pretty good marketing and spend a sizable portion of the ATS launch budget on that, the product will most likely not be that much better than the competition.
So if GM used the brain – they would target the compact lux segment with two vehicles – the Caddy ATS and a Buick. Both vehicles would be made by luxury brands, but both would take completely different approaches. The ATS would be performance-oriented – RWD, great handling, awesome exhaust note, connected feel. The Buick compact would be luxury-oriented – slower but plushier, more Lexus-like, more luxury features, more sound isolation, less connected to the road, more focused on coddling the occupants/drivers.
This two-model approach would do GM wonders in this segment. In fact, a two-model approach has the potential to get GM 15-20% of the compact luxury market at launch – something that’s unheard of! Sadly, the Verano/Excelle GT looks like it won’t live up to the standards that I have set out above. As such, I think it’s doomed for failure. And that’s really unfortunate.
That said, I would love to be proven wrong – I really want Buick to succeed.
Alex
I do agree with what you said. But this car with its interior & cheap look could be any thing but not Buick. It sould be much improved before introducing it to sophesticated north American market.
Guys, I’m new in here. How can I post an avatar photo for my self?
Hey Bawazir – welcome!
I agree with you regarding the Excelle GT’s cheap-looking interior. Sadly, I don’t think it will be improved much for the U.S. market. If that’s the way it’s going to look in China – Buick’s biggest regional market – I don’t think it will look any better in the U.S.
And yes, you can absolutely put up an avatar. We haven’t officially launched the forums yet, but you can go to gravatar.org and register with the email address your use here. This will display an avatar right above your name!
Let me know if that helps!
– Alex
I would agree with Alex on the marketing approach.
The Cadillac luxurious but more in a Bimmer mode, the Buick more that of a Lexus.
Interior design and quality, however, is critical. As much so as body design, handling, performance and build specs. GM must prove it iis up to the task of building equal or superior automobiles and it has been seriously tarred by its badly designed and substandard cabins. Think any Pontiac of the last two decades. The first-generation CTS also springs to mind.
The cabin is where the driver lives. It has to provide reinforcement and assurance that the driver has made the right choice every time he gets into the car.
Having said all that, I’m not sure that this car is critical to the line-up of a reborn Buick.
Wher is the four-seater rtractacle roofed Roadster? A Riviera for the modern age?
Hey Michael – glad you agree with me. You know what they say – great minds think alike… unlike that Manoli guy that always tends to disagree with me on the Debate show 🙂
A coupe would be great for Buick. We made a rendering of how such a vehicle could look like and based it on the Regal’s Epsilon II architecture.
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2009/12/rumormill-buick-regal-coupe-for-the-2013-model-year/
Here’s to hoping!
Alex Luft
Founder, GM Authority
That would be a retractable hardtop-roofed Roadster.
Look, GM had a lot of critics who bashed the Terrain(fugly, will never sell) and the SRX( cheapens Cadillac’s image, too small for a Cadillac, not luxurious enough), and Cruze (too dull styling, under powered, old looking already). All these critics ended up with mud on their face as all these vehicles have been smash hits for GM.
I predict the Verano will be a big seller for Buick, especially if they produce the hatch and wagon over here too. And, I guarantee the US version will have a plenty luxurious interior with lots of features.
It WILL be the Buick of small cars.
@Tenn Joe – I sure hope it will be a big seller. As long as it has the right feature content STANDARD – including leather, CD, cruise control, and perhaps non-hubcap wheels – it should do very well in going against the C-segment pure luxury cars that currently don’t exist.
In fact, every single c-segment vehicle – including the 3 series, C class, A4, Lexus IS, Infiniti G, Volvo S60/40, Saab 9-3, and Acura TSX – all of these try to be performance-oriented. If the Excelle GT/Verano comes over as a small luxury vehicle with luxury as a priority (rather than performance), perhaps it will create its own niche/segment.