Reuss: Upcoming Buick Flagship Described As “Much More Beautiful Panamera”
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Rumors of an upcoming full-size Cadillac flagship sedan have been rampantly circulating since the brand debuted the Ciel and Elmiraj concepts while GM was trademarking the LTS name. And when the flagship Caddy finally does arrive, likely in 2015, a Buick flagship will also surface.
Of the many things (besides a medium(ish)-duty pickup truck and next-gen Cruze hatchback) GM’s Mark Reuss revealed during a recent interview with Forbes was the possible direction for a flagship model for Buick. Reuss described the upcoming car as “a much more beautiful (Porsche) Panamera.”
If this vehicle is green-lit for production and makes it to showrooms, It’s unclear if it would utilize the same Omega vehicle architecture that will underpin Cadillac’s upcoming Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7 rival, which we believe will be called LTS.
To give us some sort of hint, however, was the Opel Monza Concept from Frankfurt. Pictured above, the rakish concept did have more of a rounded off hiney akin to the Panamera, and with gull-wing doors to boot. And with plans for Opel, Vauxhall and Buick to share more products going forward, the Monza Concept could very well be our first look at what’s to come.
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Pretty much anything is a much more beautiful Panamera.
Hmmm…perhaps a car in the style of the Buick Riviera- /Opel Monza Concept!?
Hope that such a car will also be available as an Opel in Europe…perhaps not as a luxury Porsche competitor but a sporty semi premium Audi A5/ A7 competitor.
Hope it doesn’t step on the toes of the caddy. And ” a more beautiful panamera?” Anything is more beautiful than a panamera, even the crappy little civics and Toyotas we have on the road today
Like I have been saying here for a while, we have really yet to see much from GM on the new Buick products and many will be surprised at what they will see.
The products will not step on Cadillac as they will lack a little more content and the styling will be appealing in a much different way.
While the Nox and Terrain are similar the styling is appeal to two very diverse groups. The lower content while still well optioned will also hold the price down to appeal to that middle segment.
I hate the Panamera too but they are selling a ton of them so someone has to like them. Either way I see the styling as being Sporty but with some Upscale is the point Mark is trying to get across. The CTS is more Upscale with some Sportiness.
Either way the Buick will appeal to those who want less hard edges and lines.
Hope it’s not a hatchback, IMO hatchback executives & luxury cars just don’t work. Make it a saloon.
It will most certainly have plenty of rear legroom and rear seat amenities. Wealthy Chinese like these kinds of things.
Not a fan of the Panamera, like most. In fact the only modern Porchse I like is the Cayman, and even still it’s ‘S’. But the Panamera Sport Turismo concept does look pretty dang good, or at least worlds better than the road going production version.
does this mean that the Buick flagship is going to be a Porsche?…I hope not. Porsches are to small.
@Rye Shelton
The Panamera isn’t small, neither is the Omega platform. And no, it definitely isn’t going to be a Porsche shared platform, engine, etc.
I wounder how big the buick flagship is going to be
LTS IS a name. There is no reason for Cadillac to unearth tarnished gaudy names from the 60’s; it will only server to make Cadillac look weak.
Besides, there’s a nomenclature to uphold in the range; barring the legacy Escalade.
LTS would be a meaningful name, as it fits with the range AND with the segment it would repersent. I mean, when you’re trying to stand toe to toe with the S-class, there is no reason to alienate yourself by being called “Biarritz”. It’s suicide and Cadillac would be laughed out of the segment.
Besides, the new nomenclature reflects the new upright formal approach that A&S launched in 2002. There is no reason to damage Cadillac with a name that reminds people of whitewalls, opera windows, landau roofs, fins, and leopard skin bench seats.
That was old Cadillac, and if you want a names that badly, I suggest you check out a used car lot that may have a mid 90’s Fleetwood.
There is no reason to make the LTS hearken back to “the good old days” because the period of the mid 50’s to 2002 was polluted with Cadillac’s worst products. There is NO REASON to contaminate the present with junk from the past, that includes the names.
Why would anyone want Cadillac to look regressive, backwards, and slovenly when they’ve spent 11 years growing with the CTS and it’s established name?
The new Buick will be a larger car but do not expect Duce and a Quarter big as those days are long over.
I suspect the Omega will be from CTS size to Zeta size platform. Large cars today are about what Mid Size was in the 70’s.
Generally people today want like a larger comfortable cars but they do not want massive as the past. Also GM wants to keep weight down too.
While the LTS may be a good sized car I kind of think the Buick flag ship will just be a little smaller, lower and sportier.
Buick will become what Pontiac could have been at a price few would have paid for a Pontiac. Instead of pretending to be Euro styled they will be Euro quality cars from Buick. The joining of Opel will insert some real Euro tuning and heritage.
Of course I’ve looked all over the Elmiraj, and all I saw was a thoroughly contemporary car, and the foremost execution of A&S by Welburn and his team.
If you think the Elmiraj was ‘inspired’ by those old heaps, there were are the traits of those piece of trash? Where are the fins? The whitewalls? The bustleback? The landau roofs? The console shifter? The bench seats? Where are those worthless styling fearures that “conjures the glory of past Cadillacs”? They certainly aren’t on the Elmiraj, and it moved more people to “build it GM” comment than an pink Eldorado could.
None of that whory old styling junk made it to the Elmiraj because Weburn knows the difference between 2013 and 1953; what cheapened Cadillac back then mustn’t be allowed to ruin Cadillac today. When the LTS arrives, none of those horrible reminders of the past will make it to production.
Why anyone would hold up the cars from the 1950’s as a benchmark of cars today is beyond me. Such people are unfit to own an A&S Cadillac, let alone anyone contemporary luxury car from any automaker.
I wonder if Mercedes has fans that are crying about the 1950’s as much some people do about Cadillac. Funny how Mercedes can pride itself on making its best cars today, whereas some can’t conceive of a Cadillac built today that would thoroughly outgun a Cadillac from the 1950’s.
Know your place, socially and automotively.
If you object to that, then find some evidence about Weburn and Eldorado. If you haven’t any, then you really are powerless.
Andrew notes “The Panamera isn’t small”.
Actually, the Panamera is a stretch Porsche.
Still making it look like one despite moving the engine to the front, is quite a feat of the designers.
Rye Shelton wonders “how big the buick flagship is going to be”.
My take: as long as the Enclave, but not as high.
Yeah, you are done here. You can’t point the dated styling cues (because there aren’t any), let alone find me any citation of Welburn; just defaulting to his subordinates.
Welburn’s word on the car dictated it’s form; I’ve asked you to get Welburn’s word on this, and you haven’t done so. I don’t see why Dean has a word on this, and it’s certainly not helping your case, however flimsy it is.
I suppose next you’ll be trying to convince me that the Elmiraj is ‘retro’ since it has such a “strong connection” to a 1967 heap of trash.
Still, it’s a nice way for you weasel out of a discussion you had no way of supporting yourself with.
Square halogens of the day are not the cast and drawn HID+LED’s of today. You’re really reaching with that one. Same with stamping creases on past trash. A thin and frail crease isn’t going to make anybody remember anything. Nobody I spoke with got that much from looking at the Elmiraj. Everything they saw was this century, not Googie architecture.
Keep ’em coming, because you sure as hell didn’t deliver last time. You’re the one asserting that the Elmiraj has traces of trash in its otherwise fantastic bodywork, and you’re not putting any food on the table.
You’re no industrial designer. You’re powerless.
I see the LTS is arriving in 2015 as 2016…I wounder when the buick flagship is going to arrive and if its going to be on the omega or not.