Ask The Best And Brightest: Rename This Buick
In its retooling announcement for the Orion assembly plant, GM notes that
Orion will be the home to Chevrolet’s new small car and Buick’s future compact sedan – the all-new Verano.
What’s interesting is that GM doesn’t call the “new small car” the Aveo, even though it’s shown near-production versions of the new model bearing the Aveo name at several auto shows. Sooner or later, GM will have to start sticking with consistent, memorable nameplates in order to build up the kind of loyalty enjoyed by models like Accord, Camry, Civic and Corolla. Which would suggest that an improved Aveo should be called the Aveo, and that the new Opel Astra-based Buick Verano should be called something less instantly forgettable. We’ve speculated about what a three-door Buick Astra hatch might be called, but this Verano plan calls for an intervention. Help GM keep Buick from sliding into 90s-era ambivalence by improving on the narcoplesy-inducing nameplate Verano. It doesn’t have to be a heritage nameplate, but it should be something that makes the brands foray into compact cars seem like less of an afterthought. And that will be just as good four generations from now.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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Okay, nobody liked Ypsilanti. There's another town, in metro Detroit that will work: ECORSE. Think of the slogan: "It's an ECORSE, of course."
How about the Monterey? Or maybe the Mojave? I also like Buick Bondurant - but you might have to get permission to use that one. By the way - in spite of the historic relevance, there is absolutely nothing elegant about the word skylark. The bird it describes is not elegant, and the word itself is not elegant - this is one that never should have been, and should be allowed to remain dead.
I like Apollo.
Buick Fried Rice! But seriously, I like others, like Invicta or Centurion then add 225 to end: Invicta 225