If you’ve wandered through the Buick display at any of the major auto shows across the country, you’ve come across the stunning Buick Avenir concept. The Holden-designed big Buick harkens back to a day when Buicks wore elegant styling and looked more land-yacht than automobile.
We’re not saying current Buicks aren’t elegant, but the Avenir has that special something.
General Motors is currently weighing the possibility of a production Buick Avenir, and a report from Automotive News has Mark Reuss, General Motors Product Planning Head, on the record about the likelihood of such a car.
If you were hoping for an Avenir to come to fruition now, you’ll be saddened at Reuss’ remarks.
“Not yet,” Reuss answered when asked about the idea of an Omega-based Buick flagship. The probability of such a car seems good, though. Chinese buyers would scoop up a large Buick faster than Cadillac wishes it could move the CTS and ATS sedans. Buick currently outsells Cadillac 13 to 1 in China.
With financing from Asia, the proper flagship could see U.S. shores, and even go global through Europe’s Opel and Australia’s Holden.
Even though we noticed an aluminum pillars as part of the Avenir concept’s structure, a sure sign of Omega at work, Reuss is quick to say a possible Buick flagship may not see the same underpinnings as the 2016 Cadillac CT6, the first vehicle to utilize the Omega platform.
“Whether it would be an identical version of [the Omega] platform or not is a different conversation. We’re looking at it.”
Buick is at a true crossroads in its history. Its self-described “affordable luxury” mantra rings true through well-executed interiors, high-quality materials and great value propositions on its MSRPs. We think a Buick flagship would sit high and mighty atop Buick’s “whitespace” mentality.
Moving opposite to market trends.
With four model years recommended for purchase.
This example is a former NCRS award winner.
Many automakers oppose right-to-repair laws citing cybersecurity concerns.
Breaking out the spec sheets for a comparison.
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1.) GM's China operations are majority-owned by the Chinese Gov't (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp). They call the shots, and take more than 50% of the profits.
2.) The Yuan has dropped in value vs. the US dollar over the past 5 years.
3.) Of the top 10-selling cars in China, only one (Chevy Cruze) is from SAIC/GMC. VW leads the pack by a substantial margin.
4.) Great that Buick outsells Cadillac 13-1, but Buick is has two cars in the top 25, and they're well down the list.
Buick does OK in China. How long people there view it as a status product remains to be seen. It became popular/enviable when it was used to ferry Chairman Mao about. But with weak sales, weak exchange rates, and China taking over half the profits and calling the shots, I wouldn't bet the RenCen on Buick's projected success in mainland China. (Sales here aren't that great either, if you check - LaCrosse finally had a strong month - March - but you have to suspect incentives and rebates are driving that anomaly. Verano, Regal and Enclave, an SUV, are getting killed. The little CUV is the only success story, and it looks like a butt plug - so I'm told).
Not going to argue your stats because I do not want to take the time but Buick is the number 3 automotive brand in China as of April 13. The Buick Excelle is #3 in sales, while the Chevy Sail is #4 and Cruze #8.
gmauthority.com/blog/2015/04/hyundai-edges-buick-as-top-ranked-auto-brand-in-china/
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/motoring/2014-03/26/content_17376010_8.htm#Contentp
Ya, didn't mean to be harsh abt sales numbers. Just Googled China sales for March 2015.
The biggest seller was small vans (1m+). Guess it depends who you ask, and when.
True, though, that GM is minority owner to state-owned SAIC.
Honestly, this would probably be the next gen lacrosse if this is not going to be on omega
I expect it is a matter of timing and a few things to come together.
We have issues of a new Lacrosse coming to market soon as well as the CT6. We also have Holden shutting down the Caprice too.
This is something where they just have a time line and at this point they are following the line as things often have to happen in a chain of events for production and marketing reasons.
The key note here is Mark is not saying the cat will not happen. All the rest is GM talk for it's turn just has not come and we will continue to string this along till it is time and we are willing to speak on it.
Huge mistake not to produce it, especially for the China market. Lincoln is coming with the new Continental and will take China by storm. it seems that GM is behind the curve on many things -- late with a competitive midsize, late with updates to Caddy and Buick premium SUV (although early with the CUV), late with new Camaro...
Just another concept that will never see the light of day... shame.
This thing smokes the tacky Cadillac A&S designs. All variations of it... Cadillac is nothing but another Chevrolet. Just a racecar company with tacky designs. All go, no show. Chevrolet/Cadillac have very little that's eye appealing and unless you're looking for speed, there's no reason to own either. Buick on the other hand has the looks, class, sportiness and style. Add some speed to them, and they're the clear winner. You can always make sexy Buick's faster, but you can't fix ugly Cadillac's and Chevrolet's.
Another point I think they are looking is if they built this, what's the existence for the LaCrosse? If they both put the 3.6 on it unless they put 3.0 TT as the standard engine on the Avenir.
I think that there is room at the top for both the Lacrosse and Avenir. The Avenir would pick up where the Lacrosse leaves off in price, and offer rwd/awd vs. the Lacrosse fwd/awd setup. While both may have a na 3.6, a 2.0 turbo could likely power a base Lacrosse while the Avenir could offer the 3.0 and/or 3.6 TT.
We will see some form of the Avenir come to market maybe in 2 years . The Lacrosse still has a couple more years left in its product cycle . A refresh and some new colors etc. . But GM wants consumers who want a big car from them to look at the CT6 and its variations . Like their other vehicles it will evenually come as a Base ,Luxury,Premium and Prestige packages . Plus their is the stigma that you never buy the first years production of any model because they are not quit up to par yet . And another thing is Buick has a SUV coming to the US market next year , so we will have to wait a couple years till we see the likes of an Avenir like vehicle .
I'm hoping that the current Lacrosse doesn't have any more years in its product lifecycle past a *hopefully* shortened 2016 model year before the all new model arrives.
Disagreed. The LaCrosse is very long in the tooth and is ripe for a redesign.
I believe that there would be a RWD Omega flagship in the a few years.....it probably wouldn't exactly clone the Avenir neither a rebage the CT6....the Avenir is just a sign that Buick will have a RWD flagship down the road.
Chris the Lacrosse is going to get all new every thing in about a year. The mules are out and about now. I expect a 2017 intro.
Buick needs at least one larger car than the Lacrosse and they will get it. But like I stated it has to fall in line with the plans of other models.
I still ponder the future of the Impala. What we have is going to go away as the platform is ending. Will it get a new FWD AWD or FWD AWD platform? Could it be on a Omega? GM said no to the Alpha but no one has asked about a Buick and Chevy on the Omega. It is very flexible. GM will not make back the investment on it only on the CT6.
There is a lot to ponders and watch for yet. There is so much yet not known to make calls on the next couple years as GM really has gone dark on product new.
I've seen the spy shots of the exterior, and the leaked interior shots of the Lacrosse. It looks like a very worthy replacement to my current vehicle, but I was really hoping it would come along for the 2016 model year. I don't know if I want to wait until 2017. Without knowing the final specs, it's hard to wait when it may turn out not to be what I'm looking for. Improved trunk space looks probable from the new shape, color choices are important, and I want a na V6 without start/stop. ...oh, and price will also be key, hopefully it doesn't increase much over the current model.
I would hope that the Impala would continue to be FWD, with a possible Omega Caprice topping it in the lineup. It hits a sweet spot for me with the V6 the Malibu doesn't have, but not having to spend $1000's extra to add AWD to a rear drive car.
I expect a more Audi like car in the coming Lacrosse but with a little more styling to it.
Not sure on the V6 but we can hope. Price will be a little more I hate to say just the nature here.
Not sure what will happen with the Impala. It could be on the same platform as the Lacrosse but it could also move up or like you state a Caprice too. That would be ideal but volume would be a concern.
Either way there will be changes with the death of the two present platforms.