Comments on: Buick Finds Extra Enclaves to Send to China

By: Sammy Hagar

Sammy Hagar — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:51:52 +0000

Okay, maybe I’m slow…I read this thing three times…but am I correct that the Chinese love Buicks? Selling twice as many there as here?
Is this one of those cultural misunderstandings…ie, Germany and The ‘Hof?

By: umterp85

umterp85 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:39:01 +0000

Skooter: Thanks for the facts…they are stubborn things…that said “rows and rows” type hyperbole is a little more entertaining !

By: dwford

dwford — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:10:56 +0000

The waiting lists are in China. Duh!!!

By: Skooter

Skooter — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:09:24 +0000

“Liberty Buick in Peoria, AZ has rows and rows of Enclaves sitting on their lot. Many have been there for a long time. I will say the vehicle is popular in this area, but then again this area is also filled with Buick’s core market. Retirees.”

Liberty Buick has exactly 24 Enclaves in stock. Of those, 21 are less than 30 days old.

By: Johnson

Johnson — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:28:11 +0000

Lichtronamo:
This just exposes the “supplier” parts issues GM came up with to explain the less than exciting sales of the Lambda and Malibu.

How right you are. And now we have some anecdotal, yet surprisng personal observations of Buick dealers having several Enclaves in stock?

Sounds more and more like GM hasn’t changed and is using smoke and mirrors, hype, and excuses to explain the mundane sales of it’s new products.

By: Acd

Acd — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:22:11 +0000

Just looking at the Chinese vs. American lineup it is pretty easy to see which market GM values the most but I think that since they are getting the Enclave we should get the Chinese LaCrosse and Park Avenue just to make it fair.

By: Lichtronamo

Lichtronamo — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:01:20 +0000

This just exposes the “supplier” parts issues GM came up with to explain the less than exciting sales of the Lambda and Malibu.

By: 6G74

6G74 — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:38:04 +0000

TriShield :
February 13th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

Liberty Buick in Peoria, AZ has rows and rows of Enclaves sitting on their lot. Many have been there for a long time. I will say the vehicle is popular in this area, but then again this area is also filled with Buick’s core market. Retirees.

Our Hertz office has already seen two rental Enclaves come and go. One has been in the fleet for six months and already has 14,000 miles. Demand outstripping supply, my ass.

Meanwhile, our local Buick dealer sits on four Enclaves (it’s a tiny dealer, too – they have perhaps 70 cars in stock across all three brands: Buick, Pontiac, and GMC).

By: TriShield

TriShield — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:44:36 +0000

By: Johnson

Johnson — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:37:08 +0000

What a genius idea! According to GM, there are supposedly long wait lists for the Enclave and dealers are starved of Enclaves period while also according to GM it can’t make more Enclaves due to some parts shortages. So now GM will magically increase production only to export them to China, absolutely brilliant!

Of course, this entire zany scheme hinges on the premise of believing what GM has been saying about Enclave demand and about the parts shortages. If this is just smoke and mirrors, then all bets are off, in more ways than one.

By: mel23

mel23 — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:27:45 +0000

GM does things that lead me to think they’re trying to kill the BPG dealers. Roger Smith’s blunder of creating Saturn is perpetuated by its continued money-losing support while starving the established dealers and brands. I realize that many Saturn stores are more appealing than the older BPG stores, but more profit would help the dealers fix that.

This is just nuts.

By: jaje

jaje — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:16:08 +0000

Do they cost more over there where they can make up the transporation, tariffs, fees, etc. with the sale?

Just looking at the state of affairs of Chinese cars – they are where Hyundai was back in the late 80’s – copying a lot of other’s ideas (many times just outright stealing) and have terrible reliability / longevity. I’d see a modern Buick as something exact opposite and reliable. No wonder they’d sell there – competition is weak and the car market is growing (versus shrinking in the US).