Here’s the thing, though: Asian doesn’t mean anything any more. Infiniti is right in BMW’s territory while Lexus’ main objective is to be like Mercedes – luxurious first, sporty second (for the most part).
Even then, Buick isn’t really trying to compete with the Asian luxury vehicles. The segment leader for the last 10 years has been Lexus — by a far margin against Asian competitors, and by a respectable margin against The German 3. So it’s obvious that the brand to beat is Lexus — it’s the leader (except for this year due to earthquake and tsunami).
What makes a Lexus so popular is its utter lack of focus on driving performance, instead focusing on pure luxury features like cabin silence and a disconnected, almost coddling, driving experience. Buick isn’t doing any of those things. It’s promoting the Regal as a sports sedan, with German roots. Those attributes are important to BMW buyers, but not those of Lexus.
So, what is like to see is a newfound focus at Buick to target Lexus directly — and best it at its own game. It does pure luxury the best right now — but it doesn’t have to. Instead, Buick is busy trying to lure Acura and Audi buyers with the Verano and Regal, but Acura doesn’t need competing with (they don’t do enough volume to warrant a direct competitor) and Audi is clearly Caddy’s performance luxury territory.
