As we reported back in May, the 2018 Buick Cascada convertible gets three new exterior colors and two new convertible top hues. And now, we have pictures of the new tones.
Exterior Colors
The 2018 Cascada gets three new exterior colors: Rioja Red Metallic, Dark Moon Blue Metallic and Carrageen Metallic. The latter is available exclusively for Sport Touring 1SH. The colors replace Toasted Coconut Metallic, True Blue Metallic, Dee and Sky Metallic.
2018 Buick Cascada Convertible in Summit White with Sweet Mocha top
2018 Buick Cascada Convertible in Rioja Red with Malbec top
2018 Buick Cascada Convertible in Dark Moon Blue Metallic
Convertible Top Colors
The 2018 Cascada also gets two new color options for its convertible top: Sweet Mocha and Malbec on the Premium trim, joining Ebony.
Both of the new convertible top colors are limited to certain exterior and interior color colors and color combinations, as follows:
Requirements for Malbec Convertible Top:
- Combination 1:
- Interior: Jet Black seats with Jet Black accents
- Exterior:
- Rioja Red Metallic
- Summit White
- Ebony Twilight Metallic
- Combination 2:
- Interior: Light Neutral seats with Jet Black accents
- Exterior:
- Summit White
- Ebony Twilight Metallic
Requirements for Sweet Mokka Convertible Top:
- Combination 1:
- Interior:Â Jet Black seats with Jet Black accents
- Exterior:
- Summit White
- Ebony Twilight Metallic
- Combination 2:
- Interior:Â Light Neutral seats with Jet Black accents
- Exterior:
- Summit White
- Ebony Twilight Metallic
Sport Touring Dark Effects Package Colors
In addition, the Sport Touring Dark Effects Package is being expanded for the 2018 Cascada with two additional exterior colors — Summit White and Ebony Twilight Metallic, enhancing customers’ ability to express their personal style on the road.
To note, these colors join Sport Red as available colors on the Cascada Sport Touring trim level with the Dark Effects package.
In addition to more color options, standard 20-inch twin-spoke black-painted wheels are now standard on the 2018 Sport Touring model. Navigation is included on all 2018 Cascada models.
The Cascada’s Dark Effects package includes:
- Sanguine Red seat stitching on seats, doors and instrument panel
- Piano Black trim decor on doors, center stack and instrument panel
- Alloy sport pedals
- Gloss black mirror caps
- Gloss black grille
The package is available only on the Sport Touring (1SH) trim level and requires the black convertible top.
About Buick Cascada
The Buick Cascada is a compact two-door, soft-top convertible vehicle riding GM’s Delta 2 platform. The vehicle launched in the United States in the 2016 model year. The 2018 Buick Cascada goes on sale this fall across the United States. It is not available in Canada or Mexico.
The Cascada is assembled alongside its European twin — the Opel Cascada — by GM-Opel at the GM-Opel Gliwice plant in Gliwice, Poland.
More Information & Reporting
- Buick Cascada info
- 2018 Buick Cascada info
- 2018 Buick Cascada changes, updates, new features
- 2018 Buick Cascada order guide
- Buick Cascada sales numbers
- Buick Cascada news
Comments
Styling of the Buick Cascada just doesn’t fit with other vehicles in Buick’s lineup; too bad it’s not possible to graft the nose from the Velite (Buick of China’s Volt) on to the Cascada to give it a sportier appearance.
I think it fits as much as the Verano did… though it’s not a direct “graft” job of the Verano’s front and rear ends.
cascada was designed as opel in 2010-13 an now looks very dated
All I see is white, red and black. Haha
Wish Buick would stop with the old Summit white and use a pearl white instead. Buicks are premium American motorcars! Leave Summit white to the Chevy Express!
I continue to want to buy a 4 seat Cadillac convertible — ATS/CT3 or CTS/CT5
I’m shopping BMW 4 series convertible and Audi and Mercedes. Luxury marques should have 4 seat convertibles
Wayne – although Cadillac should have such a model, it won’t have the potential to arrive until the CT# replacements for the ATS and CTS arrive.
Buick really needs the Avista, coupe and convertible.
So you’re saying that Buick “needs” an extremely low-volume product that is extremely difficult to break even on, let alone make a profit. Is that what you’re saying?
Such a model *could* work as a halo vehicle… but so long as it’s treated as that from the get-go, with management knowing full well that the vehicle program will lose money during its lifecycle (normal expectation), and break even (best case scenario).
What not take the Avista Concept and stretch it to a sedan model with a *halo* DOHC V8 or TT V6 in it?
The sedan would compliment coupe and convertible coupe variants in a full “Avista” line-up.
It depends if GM want a full line-up BUICK badge or just a “supporting” sub-brand for the main luxury Cadillac brand.
You’re thinking of Avenir, that’s the premium Buick sub-brand.
On GM Authority people want Buick to have a DOHC TTV8 sedan, and at the same time, others are commenting that Cadillac should be building FWD barges.
Slightly amusing.
We’ve had our Cascada for 18 months now. What a fun car! Zero problems and lots of compliments. This is a much better convertible than our previous Chrysler Sebring.
Rich is right – it is a Sebring upgrade.
But, as Brian points out, the Avista would be more special.
Painful to see GM redshirt their best work.
Oh c’mon.
To call the Cascada a Sebring update is to never have driven either car. The Sebring is to the Cascada as the Cadillac DTS is to the Cadillac XTS. Sure, both have a similar amount of doors and a convertible roof… but that’s where the similarities end. As the XTS is a much better, more modern product than the DTS, so is the Cascada to the Sebring.
Either way, the Cascada is attracting new customers to the brand. And as it does that, it gives Buick a chance to sell one of its two sedans or three crossovers as a family’s second car.
Let’s not disparage one product just because another isn’t coming to market. The Cascada is definitely not preventing something like the Avista from coming to life. The fact is that a business case for a production Avista is extremely difficult to make.
Is the Cascada really attracting new customers to the brand?
It’s sales don’t really make a strong case for that argument – Buick seems to be the place to go for an Encore, an Enclave or an Envision.
Ya, it’s (much) better than a Sebring. But the Cascada is a low volume car, complicated by the Opel sale – I imagine you’d know if it’s the traffic-creating halo it was served up as.
Has it turned a profit? I don’t know. I’ve driven one, btw – unfair to call it a Sebring.
Captain Carl – yes, it is attracting new customers:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2017/09/nearly-70-percent-of-buick-cascada-buyers-new-to-buick-gm/
This is extremely powerful regardless of sales volume, which is only a small part of the equation for a car meant to change consumer perceptions.
It isn’t a pre-requisite for consumers to buy the Cascada in droves for Buick to see positive image-related benefits from its existence. It’s a matter of seeing one on the road, in ads, in dealerships, etc. This makes people think along the likes of “hmmm… Buick has come a long way. Looks like they’re not for geriatrics anymore.” I’m simplifying here… but that’s the end result. There is droves of marketing data to prove this, especially on the RGB studies – a market study used to gauge perception. Buick has been seeing image-related progress every year on this study, and other brand-focused market studies as well.
Furthermore, every unit of the Cascada sold is highly profitable. Outside of our sources on this, there are also common sense indicators as well. If it weren’t profitable, the current GM management (which moves quickly and rapidly compared to the previous leadership teams) would have killed it after six months on the market.
Instead, this was a very strategic and calculated addition to the lineup that was meant to be low volume, medium-profit and high (brand) impact from the beginning.
The Opel sale doesn’t complicate things for existing product. It complicates future product like the NEXT Cascada, Regal, Encore, and potential Verano… though I see these models dev’ed by GM USA with input from GM China (PATAC) without many issues.
Yes, I saw that.
Bringing new people in, that’s good.
Bringing people into stores, good as well.
Thanks for the info – sorry if I was too Whiny Whinerstein.
Oh no worries. I think we all get that way sometimes 🙂
Thanks Alex. Just to be clear, I’m not disparaging Cascada. I wrote many comments online asking for it to come over the pond. It’s a situation of “Little Ventured, Little Gained”. Yes every sale helps. Especially since the incremental development cost was practically zilch. And you’re right, some people will walk into a Buick dealership just for Cascada, and later pickup another Buick. It was a good move. But it was a small move.
It doesn’t really work as a great halo car because it’s somewhat small (name one halo based on a compact platform), somewhat inexpensive (starting price is the average price of a new car these days), somewhat dull in appearance (IMHO – it’s very tasteful, but not alluring), and somewhat dull on performance.
Avista would be none of those things. Yes it would cost GM money to build another Alpha, but it would draw a crowd into showrooms. Enough of one to justify the cost? We’ll never know.
Speaking of halo vehicles, I think the new Regal GS is closer to being a halo for Buick than the Cascada is. It’s beautiful and it’s priced in the correct band for a premium carmaker. All that’s required is a variant that sits above GS and sports the 3.6TT, MRC (instead of CDC), and Brembos all around, along with possibly some interior upgrades. I say that only because certain reviews are complaining that it’s too monolithic inside the cabin and usually an M/V/RS/AMG variant will also bring some interior spice.
Just as Chevy didn’t want an Avista at Buick, Cadillac would probably have a problem with a $55,000 Regal GSX that can run with a CTS V-sport.
Duncan has a tough job, fending off Chevy from below and Cadillac from above. I wish him the best.
Brian – the Cascada wasn’t really meant as a “halo car” in the traditional sense of the word. A halo car makes one lust after the halo vehicle and then transfers said lust to other vehicles in the brand’s lineup. It’s an effective marketing strategy. Automakers who can make a halo car profitable can “double dip” on the financial gains and the marketing advantages.
In the case of the Cascada, it is simply a “perception car” – it encourages people change their perception of Buick as a whole. Said another way, it makes them question their current perception of Buick as a brand.
That said, there have been many halo cars in automotive history that were also quite small. The Audi TT, BMW Z3/Z4, Mercedes-Benz SLK, Alfa Romeo 4C, Volkswagen Golf R, BMW M1… all of these are roughly the same size as the Cascada in terms of being “small”… yet all of them served as important halo cars for their respective automakers.
But either way, the Cascada is no halo car. So to characterize it as such is to misrepresent the strategy. What the Cascada is, is the right car at the right time to 1) make profit per unit by leveraging dev work and tooling already done and in place for the Opel Cascada and 2) continue along the path of changing customer perceptions of Buick as a brand.
Now, the Avista could be a “real” halo car. That’s what I was suggesting in the comment above. However, tooling, development, etc. would be spread out over fewer units than the Cascada (due to Opel’s exit), so the market for such a car would pretty much be the United States. Not saying it’s impossible to build a case for it… but it would be highly challenging, bordering on a no-go decision… which is what we saw happen.
I wouldn’t put much credibility into the rumors of Chevy “not wanting” a Buick Avista. That’s not really a decision that Chevy would make or be able to influence much in the current GM organizational structure globally, at GMNA and divisionally… heck, the way GM works currently, “Chevy” would not have been involved in the meetings about a potential Avista product plan.
Start watching at 0:40. Duncan says Cascada will bring a halo to the brand and make people go “wow”. I guess you and I can agree it brought some sizzle to Buick and helped with perception.
But, I would never use the word halo.
Again, I like the car, I tried to convince my wife, to get her one. But I can tell you she didn’t go “wow”, not by a long stretch. And she’s a Buick fan to begin with. She much preferred an ultra low mileage 2011 Saab 9-3 Aero convertible I had located, and that’s what’s in our garage today.
I wouldn’t latch on to the words of executives like they’re gospel. We have seen time and time again that presentations like this don’t mean much. Heck, Reuss stated that the Chevy Trax wouldn’t make sense in the U.S. But here we are, four years later, with the Trax dominating the sales charts. The same goes for JDN stating there will be 10-11 new models by 2020… but there won’t be.
At the end of the day, the Cascada did bring “a halo” to the Buick brand without being a halo car. We can split hairs about the phrasing or usage of that word all day… but the purpose was — as you said — to help change perception. It did that.
As for your wife’s preferences: that’s odd that she preferred a car that’s 7-8 years old to one that’s brand new, drives much better, has better power delivery, technology ,safety, convertible configuration in opening/closing etc. The 9-3 is not a bad-looking car by any stretch… but that would be one my last choices. But hey, that’s why they say styling is subjective.
If it were me shopping for such a car, it would be between the Cascada and the A3 Convertible.
I don’t know. I really want to like this car but it looks akward to me.
Definitely agree! The Cascada is such a snooze-mobile! But the only good thing about it is the fact that it holds some much-needed potential for Buick to break out beyond their current frame of mind and bring more exciting products to the market!
Styling is in the eyes of the beholder, but I can tell you that my wife’s Cascada attracts a lot of favorable comments. Many times people in parking lots ask about it and compliment the car. As for performance, I actually enjoy driving it. It has tight handling, decent ride and a bit of pep. It’s not in the same category as my Corvette Grand Sport convertible, but it is a fun alternative. Ours is Deep Sky Blue with the black interior and black top and is very eye-catching.
I drive a Cascada as well, and I love it! It handles beautifully, feels very luxurious inside and out, and it attracts compliments and turns heads wherever I go.
I agree that the styling is pretty good. The rear lights are my favorite feature 🙂
The Buick Cascada Convertible is very elegant. In direct comparison with a Mercedes E Class Convertible, the Buick Cabrio is timelessly elegant and beautiful. From the side it looks like a Lamborgini Gallado. The big 20 inch wheels look great and fit the Cascada design. The plastics in the interior look good, but not as high as in the Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Infiniti. There is actually missing a GS top model with at least 2.0L turbo with 282HP and white noble leather upholstery. Also the 3.6L V6 would be interesting.
I drive an OPEL Cascada convertible in white with 200HP, 6-speed switch, 20 inch T-design wheels and other sporty changes and am absolutely happy. You can find pictures of this at OPEL (Twitter and Facebook).