Whereas the average customer age grew by three years to 51 across the automotive industry, that of Buick fell from 62 to 59 according to research by R.L. Polk & Co. The accomplishment is noteworthy because Buick is the only automotive brand to achieve a decrease in the average age of its customers.
Thanks to new vehicles such as the Regal and Verano, the brand is reaching a younger crowd that’s new to General Motors. The average age of a Verano buyer, for instance, is 57 — and trending down. The median age of a Regal GS customer? 43 years old — according to Buick. In fact, the brand’s own market research exhibits an even more substantial drop — from 65 to 59 over the last five years. And there are signs that the average age will continue to drop even further thanks to the discontinuation of the Lucerne, which was often purchased by the elderly, as well as the introduction of the upcoming Verano turbo with an optional manual transmission and subcompact Encore crossover.
The brand expects the Encore, for instance, to primarily attract two groups of buyers: 25- to 30-year-olds and empty-nesters, perhaps in their early 50s — according to Buick marketing manager Lloyd Biermann. However, Buick still has the second-highest average customer age in the industry — only behind Lincoln.
More important that average age is perhaps the statistic that a whopping 41 percent of Buick buyers are new to the brand. But serving younger customers, who are usually more fickle and more likely to change brands, presents a challenge of its own.
Buick sales were down 16 percent through April of 2012, mostly in part due to the discontinuation of the Lucerne large sedan — which was a fleet queen. On that note, fleet sales are down drastically and incentive spending is lower than a year ago. Has Buick found its mojo? Perhaps. But the brand still needs to fill several important holes in its lineup — and a midsize crossover, full-size flagship sedan, and increasing the content of its current model range woulnd’t hurt.
The GM Authority Take
While a decrease in the average customer age is an interesting statistic, let’s revisit the basics: the goal should be to sell cars at a profit. And since Buick is positioning itself to be a luxury brand, and luxury brands usually command a premium over their non-luxury counterparts, a sale of a $50,000 LaCrosse to a wealthy elderly couple should be celebrated just as much as a sale of a $25,000 Verano to a 35 year-old up-and-comer. Because let’s face it: the law of averages dictates that the older, the more wealthy!
Comments
So who will be selling the eldery their cars? They still exist.
Precisely! This whole craze to drop the average age doesn’t make sense; older people are still customers, and they tend to be far more lucrative financially.
I don’t think there is an image problem where older buyers somehow discourage younger buyers from buying from the same brand, as long as the product isn’t staid, uncompetitive, and — for lack of a better word — shitty.
I think there is, younger people migrate away from brands that are perceived to be old, a good example is MB and BMW, direct competitors but younger people overwhelmingly prefer BMW.
Young folks never, from what I have seen, want to be associated with an old image, and that extend to everything in their lives, not just in cars.
That said, I don’t think Buick should aggressively pursue a younger demographic, not only will it not work, due to Buick’s image, type of cars and price, but also because they shouldn’t, because there are still allot of older people out there who need a car, and there pockets are full and there not that picky either, and Buick’s image and cars fit the bill perfectly. This is another advantage of having multiple brands that BMW and Toyota don’t have. They can keep Buick as old, comfortable and “soft” while Cadillac can be for the young, and if they cant afford it, than Chevy’s stable of performance cars will do.
Excellent take….luxury and quality will sell…Buick is doing well and will continue to do that for a long while 🙂
In think it is all fine as long as they know which cars are being bought by who. Old people want the bigger cars for the space, LaCrossse and the late Lucerne, and younger people want smaller cars for the handling and gas, Verano, Encore, and Regal. Split the perception of these cars, just like Chevrolet did by making the Sonic, Cruze, Malibu, and Impala four completely different cars for completely different markets.
Good news now do what it takes to keep them or we’ll be asking should we bring back Buick
GM Authority take; good points… Buick should cater to a range of Luxury buyers as well those looking for fun luxury cars, alternative outside the box cars, in fact bring back a Kappa convertible Buick, something that no one would expect from Buick…
I was looking at the Regal for my Dad 🙂
I took a spin in a Regal GS the other day and I was impressed! It’s extremely responsive. I was sold in 30 seconds. I see how it did great in the race. It moved into a tie for my next car with the upcoming Spark. I want to see how the options with e-assist pan out for the 2013 lineup. I get almost 30 MPG with my Mazda 3 right now and I’d like to at least match that since my commute to the Ren Center will be increasing (I work for OnStar in downtown but I bought a house by the Milford proving grounds, go figure!)
Price still matters but I think I have earned some luxury. (My dream car would be an ATS V Wagon but O-Well) My first car was a Buick Century and it was built like a tank.
Get the Regal! The Spark is a good car, but you’ll be much happier with the Regal. 🙂
i’ve almost convinced our landlords/roomates an older couple to try out the verano and the regal.
Here’s some sales data to consider along with what age group(s) are buying Buicks.
2006: 240,657
2007: 185,791
2008: 137,197
2009: 102,306
2010: 155,389
2011: 177,633
2012: on pace for about 150,000
Moral to the story? Buick should want sales from anybody and everybody regardless of age? Young? Old? who cares? Don’t you need to sell more than 12-15K vehicles per month to stay around? Obviously they would if not for China, where 50-60K are sold per month.
I also think other GM brands are a huge problem for current and near future Buick models. Verano? Why not just get a Cruze LTZ? Regal Turbo? Why not get the new Malibu turbo w/259HP? GS? Why not wait a bit for the ATS 2.0T? Lacrosse? New Impala is a ways off, but looks very nice and will be a bit bigger car?
@ ALEX looking for a better word than shitty have you tried ” Hyundai “
@Main Wayne That would fit, but not in the context of what I really wanted to say. To me, the first gen LaCrosse, for instance, would be shitty. At least the Hyundais of today have some kind of modern appeal… even though they’re nowhere as good as a Chevy or Ford in the driving/handling departments.
Think that’s a pretty positive statistic. Be interesting to know how Chinese buick demographics compares
cant wait until the Encore comes out. Its like the perfect suv for a single gal like me. I dont like the sedan. I like the feel of a truck, but I dont want something too big. this looks just my size; my goldie locks car.
I’d say a fair amount of that 41% came from former Saturn and Pontiac drivers evan though some would like us to believe Pontiac owners would never drive a Buick or Chevrolet.
Agreed. Buick has essentially assumed Saturn’s role in the GM standard since the reorganization.
Well, kind of. Now that the focus is on Chevy to be the mainstream brand worldwide, Opel/Vauxhall will need to move… Either upmarket or elsewhere out of the way.
Before, it used to be that an Opel would make a great Saturn since both brands were mainstream (affordable, non-luxury). Now, Chevy is forcing Opel to move upmarket in Europe, thereby being more synchronous with Buick/luxury.
In other words, Buick is assuming Opel vehicles, which themselves will move up and over a few/several thousand bucks (Euros). And Opel will assume some of Buick vehicles. At least that’s what it seems.
Lots of sales from Honda…their styling and quality are not what they were….Toyota, Acura, etc…..are buying Buick now