Buick Prepares For Rental Fleet Dominance
Automotive News is reporting that the Opel Cascada will make it Stateside in 2016. Aside from giving Buick a fresh new product that isn’t a crossover, the Cascada arrives at an opportune time to capitalize on a small but important niche: the rental market.
With the demise of the Chrysler 200 convertible and VW Eos, rental fleets now have an alternative to the pony car twins for their convertible car class. Believe it or not, not all rental car clients want a Mustang or a Camaro, and the front-drive packaging of the Cascada allows for some packaging efficiencies that aren’t there in a rear drive setup (luggage space, anyone?).
Normally, fleet sales, and daily rental specifically, is treated as a last resort for undesirable product. But in this case, The Cascada is in a position to corner a market that, while declining, is currently wide open – something that GM is familiar with.
More by Derek Kreindler
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Buick Park Ave
Roadmaster.
City names are an option. For places where the convertible will be a popular rental, Southern California, Florida and Hawaii, there are lots of candidates, like Oxnard, Torrance, and Cucamonga; Ocala, Naples, and Sarasota; and Waipahu, Kailua, and Waimea.
If you can't sell them you got to dump them somewhere.