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Nearly 70 Percent Of Buick Cascada Buyers New To Buick, GM

By Alex Luft

September 21, 2017 10:56 pm

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The Buick Cascada found 7,151 homes in 2016 (its first year on the market), and is on track to sell roughly 6,211 units this year. The small convertible was never meant as a big seller, with the Trishield brand emphasizing the model’s low-volume purpose as filling what it calls “white space” in the market. As it turns out, the vehicle is also successful in bringing customers who traditionally have not purchased a Buick vehicle.

According to the brand, the Cascada attracts almost 7 out of 10 buyers from outside Buick and other GM brands. That means that roughly 70 percent of the Cascada’s buyers are new to Buick, and new to GM.

In addition, the drop-top isn’t sold to fleets — which is in grave contrast to most models for GM and other automakers. In fact, fleet deliveries have accounted for less than one percent of total Cascada sales since its launch in January 2016.

Sales Results - USA - Cascada

YearJanFebMar AprMayJunJul AugSepOctNov DecTotal
20202 22 11 10 00 00 012
2019249 249249 437437 437133 133133 2626 262,535
2018202 299417 458458 458367 367367 248248 2484,136
2017312 632498 692610 711422 364284 350312 4085,595
201688 495814 1,090829 755633 622470 361367 6297,153
*** This manufacturer is now publishing only quarterly numbers for this market. Monthly figures may be averages.

The GM Authority Take

To call the Cascada anything short of a conquest magnet would be doing it a disservice. More than anything, the drop-top demonstrates the power of a unique product for Buick, which spent the last decade overhauling its product lineup and image from a brand associated with the elderly to a premium, near-luxury purveyor of automobiles.

With Buick sales on a steady climb over the past seven years, the strategy seems to be working quite well. The brand recorded 155,389 U.S. deliveries in 2010. Last year, those numbers nearly reached 230,000 units.

Sales Results - USA - Buick

YearJanFebMar AprMayJunJul AugSepOctNov DecTotal
202414,795 14,79514,795 15,14815,148 15,14815,802 15,80215,802 137,235
202312,713 12,71312,713 14,25114,251 14,25114,659 14,65914,659 14,05414,054 14,054167,030
20226,382 6,3826,382 9,6279,627 9,6279,508 9,5089,508 8,9748,974 8,974103,470
202115,252 15,25215,252 21,97321,973 21,97313,099 13,09913,099 9,5959,595 9,595179,759
202011,290 11,29011,290 11,84011,840 11,84016,388 16,38816,388 14,72914,729 14,729162,741
201917,288 17,28817,288 18,45718,457 18,45716,872 16,87216,872 16,35816,358 16,358206,926
201813,648 16,32226,834 17,63017,630 17,63115,304 15,30415,304 17,08617,086 17,086206,863
201713,117 16,13120,957 20,73520,077 19,29915,966 16,81116,737 19,14217,974 22,285219,231
201618,269 17,81118,207 17,72015,625 16,57522,960 21,67820,922 20,04618,530 21,288229,631
201512,553 17,41820,526 18,22420,062 17,53120,791 22,28118,341 18,66015,960 20,708223,055
201413,278 19,19220,428 19,21419,957 21,40317,683 22,14317,466 18,69919,143 20,357228,963
201313,463 16,15018,007 17,15717,982 18,07816,393 24,65015,623 17,55515,072 15,379205,509
201210,208 14,02313,105 15,44618,565 18,85114,391 18,00014,673 13,38413,289 16,473180,408
201113,269 15,80715,663 18,41315,579 14,86816,873 16,02113,599 11,68710,880 14,974177,633
201010,061 9,12112,954 12,18112,582 13,13316,799 14,29412,875 12,56911,725 17,095155,389
*** This manufacturer is now publishing only quarterly numbers for this market. Monthly figures may be averages.

About Buick Cascada

The Buick Cascada is a compact two-door, soft-top convertible. The model is sold only in the United States, and is not available in other markets where Buick has a first-hand presence, such as Canada, Mexico, and China.

The Cascada launched in the United States in the 2016 model year. The 2018 Buick Cascada goes on sale this fall across the United States and delivers three new unique exterior colors and two new hues for the convertible top.

Based on the Delta 2 platform, 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

By Alex Luft

GM Authority Executive Editor with a passion for business strategy and fast cars.

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Comments

  1. Alex, can I get your thoughts on the possibility of this model living past its current generation?

    Reply

    1. Damion – thanks for the question!

      I think that the chances of the Cascada living on past the current, first generation are 50-50. GM wouldn’t have any issues developing such a product on the D2 platform. But with half of the Cascada’s volume cut on the Opel side as a result of the Opel sale, the development costs would need to be spread across a fewer quantity of cars.

      That said, one of the ways to bring a car like the Cascada’s successor to market even at a low sales volume is to leverage a low-cost, high-volume platform. The successor to the D2 comes to mind. It will be called VSS-F and underpin *all* of GM’s front-drive cars. Here’s some more info on it:

      http://gmauthority.com/blog/gm/gm-platforms/vehicle-set/vss-f-platform/

      Hope that helps 🙂

      Alex

      Reply

      1. This VSS is line VW’s two modular architectures, or tool-boxes if you prefer:
        MQB – Modularer Quer-Baukasten (modular transversal tool-box)
        MLB – Modularer Längs-Baukasten (modular longitudinal tool-box)

        These correspond to GM’s VSS-F and VSS-R, but with a difference.

        The “L” in VW’s second architecture refers to the Audi whose larger cars have the engine longitudinal, but the primary driving method is front-drive, not rear driver. Audi A3 has the engine transversal and front drive — same as VW Golf.

        And here depart GM and Opel — both will say bye bye to D2 and E2, but GM on the VSS architectures and Opel on the corresponding PSA architectures (EMP).

        Reply

        1. “depart GM and Opel” — I meant to say “part ways”, separae to go in different ditectins.

          Reply

  2. With Opel gone niche product like Cascada will be near impossible, for lack of scale, to bring to market.

    Reply

    1. Unless it is built on a vehicle set that attains greater scale than a single platform. That’s the promise and purpose of GM’s VSS initiative, as per my comment above.

      Reply

      1. Exactly.

        Reply

  3. build the damn thing in the USA

    Reply

  4. 70-percent of Cascada buyers are new to Buick and General Motors which suggest that the Cascada appeals to them because it does NOT look like any GM car; but given the Cascada’s low volume in sales, GM needs to consider a refreshing of the Cascada so it does look more like cars in the Buick lineup and appeal to most Buick buyers because one has to think if someone has about $35K to spend on a convertible, it’ll be a Chevrolet Camaro instead.

    Reply

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