Buick Verano Pricing Analysis: Is There Room For A Compact Buick?

Michael Karesh
by Michael Karesh

The American market wasn’t kind to compact Buicks, so none have been offered here since 1997. But, with Pontiac gone, and the Chinese far more interested in small Buicks than Americans ever have been, GM is giving a small (but at about 3,300 pounds not light) Buick another go. Pricing for the 2012 Verano has now been released…officially this time (test pricing leaked back in December). How close has Buick ventured to the stated fancy brand competition? And how far from the closely related (but not a panel or piston shared) Chevrolet Cruze?

[The following has been updated using complete official pricing.]

Buick cites the Acura TSX and Lexus IS 250 as the primary targets for the Verano. But if this is the case, why does the base Verano have cloth seats with manual adjustments, and even the optional power driver seat lacks power recline? Eight-way power leather seats are standard in both the Acura and the Lexus (though they are optional in the unmentioned but likely studied Audi A3 and BMW 328i). As are rear air vents, which aren’t available in the Buick at any price. Memory for the driver seat is similarly standard on the Acura, optional on the Lexus, and not available on the Buick. Buick’s riposte: the top-level Verano has a heated steering wheel the others don’t offer. The preliminary pricing included a fourth level with even fewer features. Apparently GM realized that offering the car without automatic climate control might undermine their “compact luxury” pitch.

The feature mismatch is clear when using TrueDelta’s car price comparison tool to compare cars with no options except automatic transmissions (columns are for length, horsepower, sticker price, an adjustment for feature differences, the adjusted sticker price, and the difference compared to the Buick):

LenHPMSRPFeatureAdjustAdj. MSRPDiff.2012 Buick Verano18418023470N/A23470N/A2011 Acura TSX18620130495-265027845+43752011 Lexus IS 25018020435340-251532825+93552012 Buick Regal19018227530-94026590+31202011 Lexus HS 250h18518737205-219035015+115452010 Volvo S4017616828300+65023470+54802012 Chevrolet Cruze LS18113818465+263021095-23752012 Ford Focus S17916018390+454023930+5402007 VW Jetta Base17915018205+352521730-1740

In terms of standard features, the base Verano almost exactly splits the $5,280 difference between an Acura TSX and a Chevrolet Cruze LS. Load up the cars with heated leather, sunroof, and nav and the feature adjustments get much smaller:

MSRPFeature AdjustAdj. MSRPDiff.2012 Buick Verano28545N/A28545N/A2011 Acura TSX33595-22533370+48252011 Lexus IS 25038445-69037755+92102012 Buick Regal32520-109031430+28852011 Lexus HS 250h40120+18540305+117602010 Volvo S4033450+62534075+55302012 Chevrolet Cruze LTZ25755+82526580-19652012 Ford Focus Titanium25880+53526415-21302007 VW Jetta 2.527025+141028435-110

The Verano is much less expensive than the TSX and IS 250, especially the latter. But then Buick already has one direct competitor for these cars in the Regal, which is priced much closer to the Acura. Which Buick is the more credible competitor? The answer is reflected in their prices. Line item features aren’t everything: with the Acura and Lexus—and the Regal—you’re paying for more car.

In layout and dimensions, the Lexus HS 250h is actually a much closer match than the IS 250. Perhaps Buick didn’t want to name the HS as a competitor since the Verano doesn’t offer a hybrid powertrain, at least not yet (Buick’s other two sedans get a mild hybrid system this year). Or they might have noted that Lexus sells more than three times as many of the IS—the HS doesn’t attract enough buyers to be worth poaching. With no non-hybrid Lexus HS 250 and the Acura CSX only sold in Canada, the Japanese don’t offer a direct competitor to the Verano in the U.S.

Buick might have also named the Volvo S40 as a competitor, except the Swedes couldn’t shift their small sedan here and have discontinued it this side of the Atlantic. I’ve ventured back to the 2010 S40 to compare the non-turbo model. Judging from the numbers, the Volvo was undersized, underpowered, under-equipped, and overpriced. No surprise it didn’t sell.

But the Verano’s largest challenge (aside from pitching the concept of a small Buick to Americans) will likely come from compacts wearing non-premium badges but nevertheless constructed with the features and feel of a premium car. This space used to be owned by the Volkswagen Jetta. But VW found too few takers for lavishly outfitted Jettas. First they trimmed the options list, then last year they downgraded the entire car. We must venture back to 2007 to find a Jetta 2.5 available with leather. Adjust for features (but not a half-decade of inflation), and it’s almost dead even with the Verano.

Chevrolet and Ford have both moved to fill the space vacated by VW. The Verano is priced about $2,800 above a heavily-equipped Cruze or Focus. Adjusting for the Buick’s additional features narrows the gap to about $2,000. A significant number, but not a big one, that puts the Buick much closer to the Chevrolet Cruze and Ford Focus than the Acura TSX, much less the Lexus IS 250 or the unmentioned Germans. Will people pay a couple grand more for the Buick’s mid-scale badge, more powerful engine, higher-grade leather, cushier seats, and “quiet-tuning?” Put another way, can Buick succeed where Volkswagen and Volvo could not? Though I had my doubts when the car was first shown back in January, it actually seems likely. The Cruze LTZ and Focus Titanium have now successfully tested the waters, and found American car buyers who are (finally) ready to pay a semi-premium price for a refined, luxury-oriented small sedan. The Buick’s pricing nudges these buyers just a little higher, while providing more than a badge as justification.

Michael Karesh operates TrueDelta, an online source of automotive pricing and reliability data.

Michael Karesh
Michael Karesh

Michael Karesh lives in West Bloomfield, Michigan, with his wife and three children. In 2003 he received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. While in Chicago he worked at the National Opinion Research Center, a leader in the field of survey research. For his doctoral thesis, he spent a year-and-a-half inside an automaker studying how and how well it understood consumers when developing new products. While pursuing the degree he taught consumer behavior and product development at Oakland University. Since 1999, he has contributed auto reviews to Epinions, where he is currently one of two people in charge of the autos section. Since earning the degree he has continued to care for his children (school, gymnastics, tae-kwan-do...) and write reviews for Epinions and, more recently, The Truth About Cars while developing TrueDelta, a vehicle reliability and price comparison site.

More by Michael Karesh

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 129 comments
  • I'm just guessing the Verano will have a sister car - the ATS Cadillac. But at these prices, I guarrantee most people would rather have a DODGE CHARGER or even a CHRYSLER 300.

    • Tced2 Tced2 on Sep 18, 2011

      Different platforms. The ATS is RWD and could have a V6 or I4. The Verano is FWD and is I4 only. The suspensions are different. The next Camaro may be built on the ATS platform.

  • I've noticed a lot of Buick Regals lately. I guess the price has dropped low enough for people to consider them.

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
Next