Buick Going Global?

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

After North America and China, we have other markets in our sights. Buick has no plans for Europe at this moment, but that could change.

GM’s Jim Federico spills possible plans for a Buick expansion to Auto Motor und Sport.

The German mag notes that this would likely benefit Opel, as Buick-badged Opel products could give GM’s European division access to previously unreachable markets.On the other hand, this is also just one more sign that Opel, long jealous of its independence within GM, is being squeezed out in favor of the global aspirations of American brands. Chevy is already encroaching on Opel in Europe, and a globalization of Buick could see the German brand disappear. “Typical Americans,” scoffs one AMundS commenter. “They’d be better off making the original a global brand… they have the ‘Made In Germany’ label in their company and don’t use it. No wonder they went bankrupt.” Don’t worry German friends… GM may just be even less brand savvy with Opel products than you think.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Dave-the-rave Dave-the-rave on Jun 24, 2010

    FWIW, the 'Opel' in that ad is a re-badged Isuzu. A friend of mine had one (blue w/ black sport stripes, white vinyl interior) and it was 0 to 60 in an afternoon.

    • Uncle Mellow Uncle Mellow on Jun 25, 2010

      Looks to me like an Isuzu built Opel Kadett coupe. Only the grill marks it out as not being the regular Opel Version.

  • Steven02 Steven02 on Jun 24, 2010

    I could see Buick in other countries that don't have Opel, just not in Europe. I also don't think that Chevy is doing much against Opel. Chevy sells have been in eastern Europe, not western Europe. They are also a step down from Opel.

  • Uncle Mellow Uncle Mellow on Jun 25, 2010

    Opel used to have a rock-solid reputation in Europe , but the late 90's Vectra had a habit of losing its cambelt, which wrecked the engine.If you were very very lucky Opel would pay part of the rebuild cost.It got to the point where dealers wouldn't take them as trade-ins.

  • GarbageMotorsCo. GarbageMotorsCo. on Jun 25, 2010

    Buick as a global nameplate would work fine. It's not like the US is the only Country with elderly drivers. And not all of them can afford Cadillacs.

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