More Chatter Over A Buick Flagship From Mark Reuss

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.