Like the rest of the GM brand lineup, Buick is making the transition to all-electric vehicles, and as one might expect, that transition includes new vehicle styling, both for Buick’s new EVs and its latest ICE-powered models. Leading the way in this brand-wide styling overhaul is the Wildcat EV concept from 2022, which provides the cues for the latest Buick design language. Now, GM Authority is detailing the origin of the new Buick design language, courtesy of insights provided by Buick design boss, Bob Boniface.
Wildcat EV concept
Boniface recently spoke with GM Authority Executive Editor Alex Luft and discussed the origin of the brand’s latest styling direction, telling us that the new look was “almost accidental.”
“We were looking at new front ends, and one of the young designers did a sketch of the Wildcat concept, and it had that low mouth forward-leaning nose,” Boniface told GM Authority. “And what’s funny is he did it as an assignment for the next-generation Buick LaCrosse, and it didn’t look anything like the LaCrosse. The simplicity of the front end was a really recognizable graphic signature of the grille and looked like something that could be adapted to a wide range of vehicles.”
2024 Buick LaCrosse
For reference, Boniface is referencing the all-new 2024 Buick LaCrosse sedan that launched in China last year. However, the sketch created by the young designer sparked something that led to a much bigger impact at Buick.
Boniface told the team to explore the design, emphasizing elements like the low mouth, high badge, and high lamps. The team decided to do a scale model of the sketch.
“I didn’t even tell [GM Vice President of Design] Michael Simcoe about it. So, in the summer of 2018, we made a scale model of it. Michael came in for a review of something else, and I said, ‘Put [the Wildcat model] over by the wall,’ and he saw it, but I didn’t tell him anything about it.”
Wildcat EV concept
After Simcoe’s review, he asked Boniface about the model.
“I said, ‘I thought you might like that; we’re just doing a little study,’” Boniface tells GM Authority. “He was really into it and said, ‘You know what, take this thing full size. I don’t care what it is; take it full size.’ He said to keep it internal as a concept to inspire and guide other Buick vehicles.”
Thus gave rise to the 2022 Wildcat EV concept, from a simple designer sketch to a model that stopped VP Simcoe in his tracks. Notably, the look includes retro aspects that may be overlooked by some.
Wildcat EV concept
“No one asked us to do the Wildcat. It was just a few enthusiasts in the studio who said, ‘Why not?’ We started looking back at famous Buicks like the Y Job and the Wildcats of the 50s and, low and behold, all of those Buicks had a low mouth, body mounted badge, high lamps, and most of them had some sort of bright element that bordered the grille,” Boniface tells GM Authority.
1938 Buick Y Job Concept
All of these elements are now primary to the modern Buick design language, which quickly took over the brand’s U.S. lineup in just two years, starting with the 2024 Encore GX refresh, as well as the all-new Envista, the 2024 Envision refresh, and the upcoming 2025 Enclave.
And not a day too soon, really. After years of fairly anonymous designs, the Buick lineup finally offers a cohesive design language that not only looks great, but makes the vehicles instantly recognizable as nothing other than a Buick. And it all started with a single sketch.
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Comments
Ohhhh, OK. Thanks for the reminder, throwing the fantastic Y-Job in there. I still think the latest facial reconstruction looks tacked on to the Encore GX and Envision. It’s like a “bad plastic surgery” gallery. And the new Enclave just does not cut it for me as a flagship, if what we’ve seen so far is a reliable indicator.
When I think of Buick, I see it as what it WAS… the founding brand of General Motors. To see it as it is today, propped up only by its popularity in China, and how gm has apparently let the Chinese take the reins of this FOUNDING BRAND OF GM… it is saddening.
This is a great story, particularly as to how it no longer is appropriate to transfer show car styling to mass market vehicles. That Wildcat, that many thought was gorgeous (I didn’t) was fine for a show car but that similar front end on the entire mass market lineup is a mistake (and ugly).
Man, it must be soul-sucking to come in as a designer all enthusiastic, have talent and fresh ideas, then watch as the corporate machine just pumps out blob after blob of vehicles that just look generic and the same as your competitors.
John: That, or they just don’t have any good designers coming in any more. The article spoke of a young new designer that penned the Wildcat. Well, my 12 year old daughter is a great artist and loves to draw. Maybe I should drop her off at GM for a job?
This seems about right for a concept that never did look quite right. No planning, no real reason, just an accident . . . Why not apply the design cues from an awkwardly proportioned concept car to a range of SUVs?
Another waste of time that will NEVER happen! Typical GM, Look what we can do but it just wouldn’t be prudent! ?????? Whats the point of this?
I love that new Wildcat body! Offer it with an ICE and I’m a buyer! EV version is a hard no.
i want an ICE also. i wont be able to afford it till its 10 yrs old.
It’s really sad, GM used to build cool cars, now it’s just look alike boring crossovers. Pass.
That 2024 LaCrosse looks like it could have been a refreshed Toyota Avalon. If you didn’t tell.me what it was, that would have been my guess.
Sadly this overall design didn’t age well. Originated in 2018 and already looks tired by the time it hit production.
That being said had Buick put the same effort into the side profile and rear of the production vehicles we may have some winners. Instead they all just have this massive grille that doesn’t have any cohesiveness to the rest of the vehicle.
JT: I was selling Buick when the first LaCrosse (2005) was brought out. In the right color and wheels, it looked nice and was a very “safe” design. It worked well for Buick and people who owned them (me, my parents included) loved them. The next gen LaCrosse was a fantastic design to look at. It was more difficult to see out of (by standards in 2010, but not today) and it did have large blind spots (again, by the 2010 standards). However, it was a huge win for Buick and we couldn’t get them fast enough. They were selling directly from the car hauler trucks if they weren’t already pre-sold or a sold order. My brother and sister-in-law special ordered one and it took months for it to arrive due to the popularity of them. The re-fresh next LaCrosse was toned down some, but gorgeous and a stunning car both inside and out. The blue one showing in this article is just hideous to me. Like you said, if I saw that with no emblems, I’d absolutely think it was a cheap Toyota.
Buick is just lost.
The current Buick LaCrosse wasn’t designed to appeal to USA buyers. Its competition is the Toyota Avalon in China, and it looks to be along the same lines. It’s very comparable to that.
cim88sev86: I was also selling Buick at the time the 2010 LaCrosse came out – Like you said, people went crazy for this car. It was the most expressive car on the road at the time. Simply stunning inside and out.
Could not agree more with your comments.
Rears and especially side profiles needed to actually look like the Wildcat (the forward cantilevered looking roof from the rear pillar). Agreed.
This story reminds me of how the new Buick logo (without a circle around the tri-shields) was supposedly viewed by chance and selected by Mark Reuss. Perhaps the current “shark” grille, shown by the 2022 Buick Wildcat concept, is only temporary, until Buick transitions to all EVs by 2030. The reason I wonder about this is the design of the Buick Proxima Concept, which is their latest concept. Proxima means “next,” so maybe what is on the Proxima will be the electric face of Buick?
First, this smells of damage control after what I’m sure would be their (Buick and it’s designers) shock to the very negative comments about the super ugly 2025 Enclave. Second, just because something looks cool or nice or elegant on a “concept car” that will never see the light of day doesn’t mean it will look good on every model.
This front end looks fine on this concept car Wildcat. But it’s just that, a concept. That same front end looks putrid on the Enclave, barely tolerable on the new Envision, but ugly on the Encore GX and acceptable on the Envista. So Buick has it’s job cut out for them to fix this styling mess they have made.
My first thought too – trying to justify / soften this nightmare. Hard to imagine anyone being genuinely surprised by the fair assessment and feedback here. Current styling is just soul-less generic bland garbage. Does anyone remember the beauty of the Avista concept?
Why do so many EVs still have front grills?
Or blank snouts? (aka Tesla)
Is no designer able to create a better EV face that does not simply mimic an ICE/hybrid as if consumers are all married to that outdated design concept?
When will we see a Buick sport sedan again the the states? I need a new Regal GS.
How about a Riviera concept taking the Wildcat design to new levels? Make that “WOW” factor pop.
What happened to “When Better Cars are Built, Buick Will Build Them”?
Has it changed to “When………………………………….. China will build them?
It reminds me a bit of a Peugeot 908 RC concept car from a few years back. I suppose wildcat and lion share some feline features but to say it was by accident is absurd.
I’ll tell you how the new language was born.
2 people had brain farts.
1 was the designer, and the other was the approver
“We started looking back at famous Buicks like the Y Job and the Wildcats of the 50s and, low and behold, all of those Buicks had…”
…CLASS. Everything was flowing and proportional. No man-eating grilles or impractical zero-sidewall tires.
You also knew immediately it was a Buick without having to look for the emblem.
It still looks like a Toyota , yuck!
Wildcat EV Concept………..love the look, beautiful. I would buy one if it came with an LS2. But as long as I can buy gas, no EV 4 me.
Sorry but this new design is horrendous 🤮 I feel bad for Buick GM is destroying this brand and the new logo is awful too 😥
Hate Buick’s new design language, the new logo, and the 3 cylinder engines.