Speculation Confirmed: Kiss the Buick Regal Goodbye

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

The coming year isn’t just the first chapter in a new decade, it will also be the final year you’ll be able to purchase a new Buick Regal. For that matter, it’s the last year you’ll be able to buy a Buick car.

Confirmed by a brand spokesman, the 2020 model year will be the midsize Regal’s last in the North American market.

Built in Germany by former General Motors property Opel, the current-generation Regal appeared for the 2018 model year, offered in fastback-styled Sportback and brawny TourX wagon guise.

After Opel (now in the hands of Groupe PSA) revealed changes to the Opel Insignia for 2020, Buick confirmed to Motor Authority that the coming model year will be the model’s last — at least in North America.

“Buick continues to be ahead of the consumer shift toward SUVs. In fact, nearly 90 percent of Buick sales to date this year have been crossovers,” said Stuart Fowle, communications manager for the Buick and GMC brands. “Although the Regal will no longer be offered in the U.S. and Canada, it will be sold in China where demand for sedans remains significant.”

Chinese-market Regals are built locally via Shanghai GM (SGM), a joint venture between GM China and its Chinese partner, SAIC. In that market, the model is offered as a pure sedan, rather than a liftback. A GS version ups the model’s looks, but not its horsepower.

Given China’s affection for the American brand, Regal sales in that country vastly outpace the model’s U.S. volume. American Regal sales by the end of September? 8,849. In China? 82,552.

While the Regal’s revamped looks and choice of bodystyles initially buoyed the Regal’s flagging sales in the U.S., it didn’t deliver the kind of volume GM might have hoped for. This year saw Regal sales fall 19.6 percent through the end of September. The only alteration to the model for the 2019 model year was the addition of a luxed-up Avenir variant (seen below).

It was long expected that the Opel sale would one day see Regal imports dry up. Earlier this year the brand dropped its fast-falling LaCrosse full-size sedan from the roster at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant and discontinued the oveases-built Cascada convertible, making the Regal its soul passenger car offering. Now, that model has just a year to live.

Again, it’s not unexpected. Buick utility models like the Encore, Envision, and Enclave are up 6 percent, 10 percent, and 16 percent, respectively, through September, and there’s a tweener Encore GX on the way to capture additional buyers in the low-priced space.

From three cars to zero in the space of a year, making Buick a utility vehicle-only brand.

A sign of the times.

[Images: Tim Healey/TTAC, General Motors]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Jeff S Jeff S on Dec 04, 2019

    Ah Buick I once knew you as a maker of premium cars that once challenged all premium cars that were above you. At one time you made cars that were the envy of your competitors and that people actually aspired to. You were a leader and at one time you were the 3rd best selling brand in the USA. Now most of your cars are gone and those not yet gone are going with a selection of crossovers one being made in China and the other in South Korea. Your latest vehicle is a turbo I3 with a CVT which has all the aspiration of a generic soda which has gone flat. You will sell these and they will keep you going for a while but eventually you will be forgotten and end up in the scrap heap of once great but forgotten brands.

  • CobraJet CobraJet on Dec 04, 2019

    It is sad. My wife and I just finished a 1400 mile trip in our 2017 Lacrosse. The car is comfortable, quiet and powerful. I hope to keep it a long time since there apparently won’t be any more like it. We have a crew cab pickup and a van but have never owned a CUV. I’ve driven many rental CUVs but really don’t want one.

  • Joe This is called a man in the middle attack and has been around for years. You can fall for this in a Starbucks as easily as when you’re charging your car. Nothing new here…
  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
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