Buick Shows Signs Of Renewed Vigor

by Bertel Schmitt

March 13th, 2013 9:18 AM

The Buick brand, long seen as kept on life support in the U.S. to appease the Chinese, shows sudden signs of stamina. One signal: More Buicks get leased, and indicator of youthful buyers.. In March 2012, Buicks were leased by 14 percent of the new owners. At the end of February, the lease rate more than doubled to 36 percent, the Detroit News says. Buick’s average customer age also has dropped to 57 from 64 over the past five years.

Buick’s second spring is partially credited to Experience Buick, a 24-month lease program which includes routine maintenance such as oil changes and tire rotations, Sirius XM radio and OnStar bundled into one payment. A new product portfolio, with more in the pipeline, also helps.

Buick sales rose 1.6 percent in 2012 to 180,408 units. Through February, Buick’s sales are up 22.2 percent over the same months in 2012.

#BertelSchmitt #Buick

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11 of 48 comments

Kyree on Mar 14, 2013

Buick is doing quite nicely in this day and age. A loaded Chevrolet Cruze LTZ is nice, but it still has that plebeian feel to it: you won't find projector headlamps or automatic air-conditioning on any model, the armrests are rather small and out of position, and the car can be quite boomy at loud speeds. The Verano, then, does a nice job of picking up at right about where the Cruze leaves off. The Regal is a lovely midsized sedan. I think it may need to be Americanized just a tad more (meaning that a reverse camera, for example, should be made available). The facelifted Enclave succeeds at being a luxury crossover with a lot of bang-for-your-buck and for distinguishing itself from the other Lambdas. The LaCrosse is supposed to be getting facelifted this year; GM needs to make sure that the new Impala doesn't upstage it. And as for that new Encore, I see a lot of promise. Its only competitors are the MINI Countryman and yet-to-be-released Fiat 500L. Personally, I think that Lincoln needs to try and get in on that game as well (given that they've essentially been competing with Buick and not Cadillac ever since they discontinued the Town Car), but the Ford Focus would probably price them out...

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Charliej on Mar 14, 2013

My dad used to buy Buicks. I was thinking that I am still to young to buy a Buick, and I am 67.

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Thornmark on Mar 14, 2013

Actually, Pontiac was the more logical choice to survive in the US but GM deemed China more important to its future. Cadillac and Buick are both near luxury no matter what GM thinks and Pontiac had stronger sales in the US and better demographics. So carwise, Buick at the low end sells Korean designs via Chevy and at the higher end it shares Opel designs w/ Cadillac. I wonder what happens to Buick/GM when China decides they are no longer needed? Or if flailing Opel meets its demise?

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- See 6 previous
- 28-Cars-Later on Mar 14, 2013
  
  I suspect you're preaching to the choir.
  
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- Doctor olds on Mar 14, 2013
  
  @Thornmark- GM proposed keeping Pontiac as a niche brand within the planned Buick-Pontiac-GMC channel. Obama's Auto Task Force said NO. The argument was simply that lower volume Buick could command higher prices that would enable the brand to be profitable. This is true and the brand is profitable and getting stronger. They need a couple more products which are expected to come soon. I sure miss Pontiac G8, Solstice and the ATS cousin in the old plan!
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Mar 14, 2013
  
  @doctor olds The low volume/high profit argument could have been made for Pontiac. If GM had been allowed to try that and it still failed and was shut down I could accept it, but its the whole "do as we say" thing that gives me a vendetta for that administration.
  
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- Doctor olds on Mar 14, 2013
  
  @28-Cars-Later- +1000!
  
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- Geeber on Mar 14, 2013
  
  There was far more overlap between Chevrolet and Pontiac than there is between Buick and Cadillac. Buick, for example, has no equivalent of the CTS, ATS or Escalade. Pontiac's glory days lasted from 1959 through 1970. Those days are long gone. The division's "revival" in the 1980s was largely because every other GM division was in even worse shape. The 6000STE was overshadowed by the Ford Taurus, while the Fiero was ultimately a disaster, and became one of the poster children showing what was wrong with GM in the 1980s. By the early 21st century, Pontiacs were Chevrolets with more cheesy cladding and uglier styling. The revived GTO went nowhere, and the G8 would have made much more sense as a Chevrolet. The sole purpose of a brand such as Pontiac is to provide an in-house "step up" from the least expensive brand (in this case, Chevrolet). By 2000, no one outside of GM and its fan websites believed that a Pontiac was in any way more prestigious or "better" than a Chevrolet.
  
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- DenverMike on Mar 14, 2013
  
  @28-Cars-Later Why did we have Pontiac if the Corvette is GM, the Grand National was Buick, the Hurst 442 was an Olds and the Trans Am a re-badge? Oh and the Fiero was Citation.
  
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- Corey Lewis on Mar 14, 2013
  
  @geeber +1 to all of these points. I agree completely. I think a lot of the damage to Pontiac's reputation was the people who bought them used. You know who I mean - poor trash that didn't take care of anything they owned. Less trashy people seemed to buy used Chevy's.
  
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Buickman on Mar 15, 2013

with a storied history and a dealer body unsurpassed, the understated and elegant Buick drives on after a hundred years. I love the brand, the cars, and more importantly...the wonderful loyal customers who really would rather have a Buick.

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