GM Can't Lose Buick
Has anyone noticed that Buick is pretty much where Oldsmobile was when GM decided to fold it? Back in 1999, Olds sold 352,000 cars and trucks. Last year Buick sold 337,000. In 2000 the announcement came in late 2000 Olds sold 289,000. This year Buick is tracking around 290,000. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest: To lose one division, Mr. Wagoner, is a misfortune. To lose
May 1, 2004
Has anyone noticed that Buick is pretty much where Oldsmobile was when GM decided to fold it? Back in 1999, Olds sold 352,000 cars and trucks.
Last year Buick sold 337,000. In 2000 — the announcement came in late 2000 — Olds sold 289,000. This year Buick is tracking around 290,000.
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest: To lose one division, Mr. Wagoner, is a misfortune. To lose two is carelessness.
Of course, we hear about $3 billion for product to save Buick. Such numbers are elastic, and so far it's hard to see where that kind of money is going.
The good signs:
New products: A midsize car this fall called LaCrosse replaces the dated Regal and Century.
A big car next year with a V-8 replaces LeSabre and Park Avenue.
Velite, a sleek new convertible, arrives in a couple years.
A minivan debuts this fall and later a larger SUV.
Most Buick buyers are old, but Americans are living longer and we geezers have another Buick or two left in us. Plus, aging Baby Boomers are moving into Buick land if only they can be converted.
Now the bad news:
That first new car, LaCrosse, well, teenagers won't chase it down the street. It ain't “gotta have” in design, and the base engine is the hoary 3.8L V-6.
Buick gets hand-me-downs. The new Terraza minivan is GM's old flop minivan with a touchup. The Rainier is a redone Chevy TrailBlazer. The LaCrosse came off a global platform, which means making a great Buick wasn't the first priority. I'm sure the larger SUV will be a hand-me-down, too.
I don't know what the new big car replacing LaSabre/Park Avenue will be, but I bet it won't make the splash the Chrysler 300 makes with its dramatic new look, rear drive with an all-wheel-drive option — and a Hemi. No guts, no glory.
No one at the top of GM has loved Buick since Harlow Curtice. He was the GM chief who led the company's post-war expansion and made his mark running Buick.
The Advice:
Rent a motel for a week. Get your people together. Don't come out until you figure out what Buick is supposed to be because nobody knows anymore. Saying “premium” like some kind of mantra is Madison Avenue bull.
In the old days, we knew what a Buick was. You bought one when you could afford more than an Oldsmobile but didn't have enough dough for a Cadillac. Buick had dazzling styling, chrome spears, the gunsight hood ornament, a buck-toothed grille and the softest ride in the world.
Lastly, that convertible: dump those phony rectangle portholes. Put the gunsight on the hood that Buick wore in the glory days. And that terrible phony name Velite? Dump it. Call her Skylark and let her fly.
Jerry Flint is a columnist for, and a former senior editor of, Forbes magazine.
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