Buick Shows Signs Of Renewed Vigor
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.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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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...
My dad used to buy Buicks. I was thinking that I am still to young to buy a Buick, and I am 67.
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?
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.