QOTD: Can You Make the Case for Buick in 2025?
Buick has been on my mind lately, ever since reading that the GM division will remove brand lettering on all models starting in 2019. This change isn’t particularly shocking, as Buick is merely catching up with what other premium brands are doing on the badge front (I always prefer more badges to less, brougham-style).
Then, quite literally as my fingers tapped out this post, Mr. Jack Baruth announced Buick must die in short order. But what might General Motors do to save the luxury shield from its own axe?
What would Buick look like for you, in 2025?
Change is possible. The Buick brand underwent some reformatting over the past 15 years or so. Consider what the lineup looked like in 2005:
- Century
- LaCrosse
- Lesabre
- Park Avenue
- Rendezvous
- Rainier
- Terraza
About half of these models are at the end of their life, and roughly all of them represent modifications (and cost-cutting) to 1990s platforms — and we’re not even at the recession yet. Now look at 2015:
- Verano
- Regal
- LaCrosse
- Encore
- Envision
- Enclave
Refreshed product on newer platforms, a broader range of sedans (note I didn’t say fast-selling), and more crossover action. Jack correctly points out that the 2018 lineup is lackluster. The new entrants to the lame party are the Regal Sport and TourX, neither of which are likely to set sales figures alight. But here’s where you come in.
The argument for keeping Buick around is a valid one. The long history of that shield has some value left in it, especially where the Chinese consumer is concerned. Whether the Chinese consumer would care whether new Buicks are still sold to Americans is another question, and one I can’t answer. But it certainly can’t hurt Chinese sales to have Buick dealers selling new metal here.
What that metal looks like is up to you. Come up with a reasonable and realistic idea of what the Buick lineup could look like in 2025, working under the assumption that GM has remained faithful to the tri-shield. It’s pick and mix time.
[Images: Murillee Martin, Wikipedia, TTAC]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Buick needs a big luxury EV in 2025 called the Electra!
Make everything a full hybrid, both six and 4 cylinders. AWD everything all the time. See if GM will let you create one special engine for yourself. A twin turbo 2.5 v6 with all the bells including hybrid. Each vehicle only have one engine option except the Enclave, which would get the special engine and a regular thats already in it that has hybrid tech.