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GM Claims It Won’t Build Buick Avenir

We’d love to think that Buick is telling a little white lie, with plans to surprise us all with a grand, romantic gesture later on down the line, but that doesn’t sound very likely. According to MLive, the Buick Avenir concept will probably never reach production.

It’s a shame, because… well, look at it. The Buick Avenir concept, unveiled at the 2015 Detroit North American International Auto Show, is a positively stunning bit of sculpture.

And, we know that Ed Welburn agrees. MLive reports that the GM Vice President of Global Product Design was so exceedingly proud of the Avenir, he personally insisted it make an unscheduled trek to Philadelphia for a smaller auto show later in the month of January.

But none of that really matters when it comes to profitability.

Buick Product Communications Manager Lauren Indiveri told the news site: “There aren’t any plans to build it, currently. We always evaluate business pieces, and there’s not any indication that that would change any time soon.” The concept, in other words, is just a conversational piece, meant to get people thinking about what the Buick brand is capable of.

The name “Avenir” is actually French for “future,” which makes the concept a promising indication of a possible future design direction for the brand. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the Buick Avenir itself is destined to be a future car. But perhaps something of similar nature and a different name is something we will see down the road. Never say never.

Aaron Brzozowski is a writer and motoring enthusiast from Detroit with an affinity for '80s German steel. He is not active on the Twitter these days, but you may send him a courier pigeon.

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Comments

  1. And there were no plans to bring the Colorado here either.

    Never say never when it comes to GM.

    Reply
  2. Never say never.GM said there would never be a four-cylinder camaro. There would never be a mid engine Corvette. They would never put a diesel in the light duty truck. Even Sean Connery said he would never do another James Bond movie. Never say never again.

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  3. Ummmm.. No shit? Did anyone actually believe this car would? Just like the Cadillac Sixteen, it’s a design study. Nothing more. They’ll use it to gauge people reactions to it’s design cues and choose which ones score the highest.

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  4. Why this car will not be built:
    It would upstage any Cadillac Omega.
    Large cars are not selling.
    Opel is focusing on city cars. They have no use for an S Class sized offering.
    If this car were being built, the Commodore name would be reserved, not squandered on Insignia.
    Buick in the US is focused on smaller offerings, shareable with Opel, like Encore.
    The new Excelle is so understated, and this is the future, unfortunately, of Buick.
    China is the only wild card. They will probably need a Park Ave replacement but a longer wheel base Lacrosse could do the job. Or Zeta could live on as the W platform lived on for the fleet only Impala Classic.
    Aveair should be the future of a more upmarket positioned Buick that can truly challenge Lexus, and even Audi. This it’s important given the problems over at Caddy not to mention two luxury brands being better than one given market segmentation.
    GM it’s becoming a let down wanna be Toyota.

    Reply
    1. There is demand for large cars like the S Class, 7 Series and etc. The reason they are not selling like you want is because the price tag north of $72K is enough for most people willing to pay for such a car and they are the automakers main flagship.

      Cadillac don’t have anything to worry about the Avenir even if Avenir does go into production, it will be priced around $55,000-$75,000 max out with options.

      GM will give more engineering to the CT6 and any Cadillac for that matter since it is their flagship brand.

      Reply
  5. Please build this, would be a very nice luxury car to replace the Caprice in Australia

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  6. Well what you will find now is that they may be making the business case for this car now. Often the designers or those supporting a car like this will present it and then let the public react and then make their case.

    Also with the new CT6 being shown in 2 months they do not want the Buick to overshadow it at the release of it.

    While nothing is ever 100% till you get in in your garage I still would not call this one dead yet. Just the sales in China alone should help them make the case for this car and pay for the development.

    Also GM needs more than on car on the Omega to make it pay off.

    As I say often there is more going on than you will ever know.

    I would say keep an ear and eye open as you may very well not seen or heard the last of this one. It won’t be next year but it could be in a few based on where it sits today.
    As for the Zeta it is gone and will not live on like the W. GM has money now and if anything comes it will be a more modern and flexible Omega.

    Something else to consider is this also may be a variation of a model they already have coming like a coupe that has already been spoken about? Just something to consider as there is more in play here than we know.

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    1. I have a feeling this may be the case. And that this will eventually show up and/or design elements from it in new design language being studied.

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  7. NewsFlash! Apparently GM doesn’t want to build a car that would sell like crazy

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  8. Concept cars are only ever an excercise to gauge public reaction. While *this* vehicle isn’t likely to appear at a dealership near you anytime soon, you can bet GM’s designers will find ways of incorporating many of its design elements into a future model. Otherwise it’s just a big waste of time and money.

    Buick needs a flagship and, from what I know about the gestation period of this car, it’s been a long time coming. Frankly I’ll be shocked if we don’t see something in a similar vein to the Avenir by the time the Beijing auto show rolls around next year.

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  9. Buick needs a flagship! And, to design something this exquisite shows that Buick has the talent. If not the Avenir, then something like it please!!

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  10. Pure show cars are only concepts to show ideas. Case in point the Sixteen was pure show car as it was not based on production platform and had an engine that had no chance of production. They did use some of the styling in future cars to a point.

    Then there is the Camaro 5th gen that was not expected to make production but a group inside GM got it built and the public cry to build it help those supporting the new car to get it built. When that car was built there were no production plans at the time and GM changed them. The production car was then created from the show car.

    This Buick on the other hand has a platform that is coming out and is very producible. less some of the interior tricks and the larger wheels it could easily be made production.

    With that said this is the time where people like Wellborn can try to sell the production business case with Mark. There is always a chance of it not making it but with large public reaction it could be approved or it may already be approved but GM is buying time as it could be a 2018 model and they do not want to admit what they will have for two years ahead.

    Factor in also the CT6 is coming out. While it will be much more advanced in many areas it still does not need to be compared to this car till after it hits the market.

    I would still not be surprised if we get a car much like this in a couple years.

    GM anymore likes to make production announcements about 18 months out.

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  11. To be honest, that rear end is horrid anyway; any more down slope and it could double as the front. Rest of the car looks great though.

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    1. I can see that it would be everyone’s cup of tea, but in the era of bland cars, it is distinctive.

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  12. Wonder how the styling cues work on a smaller platform? I hope that they are studying that right now.

    Make a Buick Volt out of it — tweak it a bit more for range, luxury — maximize the platform volume and give a luxury buyer an EV option (other luxury brands like Lexus, Buick’s target competitor in some cases, are bringing EV models out too).

    The CAFE requirements would benefit too.

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  13. “…get people thinking about what the Buick brand is capable of.” We now know of what Buick is capable, but we also know the utterly STUPID decisions of which head office bean counters are capable. Mary, pick up the phone and talk some sense into their brains. It would be really nice if a corporation, just for once, would let art and beauty rule the day.

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  14. While this news is unfortunate, I’d like to believe that we’ll very well see this vehicle come to production in the very near future. As was mentioned there are quite a few aspects of the car that are production-ready: namely the engine, transmission and suspension. Since we won’t have the Avenir now, it’s still a good possibility the Australian and Chinese markets may see it in the form of a genuine, RWD flagship sedan. Possibly to be sold as the Caprice, or Commodore, and Park Avenue. Because there’s no way GM could market a big FWD-based sedan as their flagship! I don’t care how good it is!

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  15. GM: “Oh crap- we accidently made a buick people like. Thats not how we do things in the buick line. We better pull the plug”

    Reply
  16. Please do not build it with an “Active Fuel Management” V-6 !

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  17. One more thing to consider is that this design language is the direction they are moving to. So even if this is not built we will see cars like this after the new Lacrosse.

    Reply
  18. C’mon GM, you’re killing me! If not the Avenir, then the Riviera or something like the concept! Break out from making ho-hum designs and take some risks. Buick is your best selling brand–take advantage of it. The safe play isn’t always the smart play.

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  19. I doesn’t surprise me that they will never build the Avenir. They have had beautiful concept cars since the 50s and the public wanted them but GM knew best and instead brought out the boxes that the concept car came in. And today everything is overpriced. In the 50s you could buy any American car you like on a 24 to 36 month loan without a strain on the budget. Now you need a 30 year mortgage just like college tuition. It’s a rip-off.

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  20. If they aren’t going to build it then why is it on the BUICK website? Generate interest perhaps?
    I don’t recall CHRYSLER putting their IMPERIAL concept on their site before they cancelled it.

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  21. When is Buick planning on making some nice looking cars again? The Riviera was the last car I was interested in and bought. I love the brand, but am not in any way jazzed about these dull little 4 doors. Come on GM, these are your natural BMW competitor…or should be. Save the Caddy for Mercedes’ equal. Check out the work of the Australian design division. Nice.
    Oh, and your poor sales during the late 90s, early 2000s were due to amazingly poor shock selection. Only the most loyal would still buy that lofting body ride. Keep your bean counters in check and let the engineers do the design that will please. Me, I changed the shocks for superior aftermarket designs.

    Reply

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