'Business As Usual' As Buick About to Reveal Two Products Amidst Opel-PSA Talks

Mark Stevenson
by Mark Stevenson
business as usual as buick about to reveal two products amidst opel psa talks

As politicians and labor unions in Europe reel from yesterday’s revelation of high-level talks between General Motors and Peugeot over a possible sale of Opel, GM’s most European-infused brand on this side of the Atlantic is operating business as usual.

Buick, which is GM’s second-largest brand globally by volume behind Chevrolet, has product in the wings, including the largely rumored but unconfirmed Buick Regal, based on the recently revealed Opel Insignia.

Buick sees no problem with that.

“Our priorities for the brand haven’t changed since Monday,” a Buick spokesperson told TTAC on Wednesday. “It is business as usual until/if something is finalized.”

What is business as usual?

Regardless of an Opel-PSA deal, one debut from Buick will remain unaffected: the next-generation Buick Enclave. While GM has updated all the Enclave’s platform mates in recent months, Buick’s entry has yet to show its sheetmetal to the public, and that reveal is likely safe thanks to its local production and its separation from Opel. The three-row Enclave is rumored to get a New York reveal in April.

The situation is different for the Buick Regal.

While its reveal, similarly rumored for New York, won’t likely be threatened by a purchase of Opel by PSA, it’s been long assumed GM would move Regal production to Germany and away from its Oshawa plant. Should a deal go through, Oshawa still may not be able to keep the model, as Regal production could join Malibu at GM’s Fairfax Assembly facility in Kansas City, Missouri.

And that’s assuming GM bothers.

After its 40,144-unit high mark in 2011, under half that many Regals — just 19,833 units — found homes in America in 2016. If anything, it would make more sense for Regal to become Buick’s second Chinese import, as it sold 69,300 units there in 2016.

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  • TMA1 TMA1 on Feb 15, 2017

    Only 69K Regal sales in China last year? And yet the Verano is the one they killed. Look at the sales for the Buick Excelle (aka Verano) in China for the past 5 years: http://carsalesbase.com/china-car-sales-data/buick/buick-excelle-xtgt/ Excelle XT/GT 2016 370,375 2015 290,213 2014 246,305 2013 204,274 2012 173,312 2011 134,800 2010 81,652 Any auto maker would kill for sales and year-over-year increases like that!

    • See 2 previous
    • NormSV650 NormSV650 on Feb 16, 2017

      ...and Acura still sells the ILX.

  • Varezhka Varezhka on Feb 16, 2017

    Given the current sales number, would the actual Buick buyers in NA even notice if Regal is killed altogether? It may make sense to further consolidate the sedan line to a single model of LaCrosse. Trim the line-up to an easy to choose choice of Encore (sm), Envision (med), Enclave (lg), and LaCrosse (sedan holdouts). Any other non-mainstream niche preferences (RWD sports sedan, coupe, wagon, BOF SUV, etc.) can be taken care of by Johan's Cadillac.

  • Tassos I also want one of the idiots who support the ban to explain to me how it will work.Suppose sometime (2035 or later) you cannot buy a new ICE vehicle in the UK.Q1: Will this lead to a ICE fleet resembling that of CUBA, with 100 year old '56 Chevys eventually? (in that case, just calculate the horrible extra pollution due to keeping 100 year old cars on the road)Q2: Will people be able to buy PARTS for their old cars FOREVER?Q3: Will people be allowed to jump across the Channel and buy a nice ICE in France, Germany (who makes the best cars anyway), or any place else that still sells them, and then use it in the UK?
  • Tassos Bans are ridiculous and undemocratic and smell of Middle Ages and the Inquisition. Even 2035 is hardly any better than 2030.The ALMIGHTY CONSUMER should decide, not... CARB, preferably WITHOUT the Government messing with the playing field.And if the usual clueless idiots read this and offer the tired "But Government subsidizes the oil industry too", will they EVER learn that those MINISCULE (compared to the TRILLIONS of $ size of this industry) subsidies were designed to help the SMALL Oil producers defend themselves against the "Big Oil" multinationals. Ask ANY major Oil co CEO and he will gladly tell you that you can take those tiny subsidies and shove them.
  • Dusterdude The suppliers can ask for concessions, but I wouldn’t hold my breath . With the UAW they are ultimately bound to negotiate with them. However, with suppliers , they could always find another supplier ( which in some cases would be difficult, but not impossible)
  • AMcA Phoenix. Awful. The roads are huge and wide, with dedicated lanes for turning, always. Requires no attention to what you're doing. The roads are idiot proofed, so all the idiots drive - they have no choice, because everything is so spread out.
  • Leonard Ostrander Pet peeve: Drivers who swerve to the left to make a right turn and vice versa. They take up as much space as possible for as long as possible as though they're driving trailer trucks or school busses. It's a Kia people, not a Kenworth! Oh, and use your turn signals if you ever figure out where you're going.
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