Pandemic Discounts: One Buick Tops Them All

Not sure about you, but these past few weeks has seen yours truly think more about remdesivir and potatoes (at alternating times) than the Buick brand. I’d put the ratio somewhere close to 99:1, though you could add an extra digit to that first number and probably still be bang-on.

Yes, it’s a brand that’s not top of mind, earning itself more headlines for ditching cars than for adding crossovers. And yet, when our lockdowns end the the virus is vanquished and the open road cries out its alluring siren song, cushy, long-legged cruising machines might be the first thing to cross your mind. It seems Buick has just the thing for you, but you’ll have to act fast — and search long and hard.

According to JATO Dynamics, the best open cash offer for any vehicle sold in the U.S. on Tuesday happened to be a vehicle that ceased production 13 months ago. We’re talking about the full-sized Buick LaCrosse — a stretch-your-legs comfort cruisers that looked great in its final iteration, but fell victim to a buying public that had no use for such things.

As of April 28th, the best open cash offer for cars can be found on the 2019 @Buick LaCrosse Preferred FWD (23.85% discount), which can be found throughout the entire United States. pic.twitter.com/8gUwfx61rw

— JATODynamics_NA (@JATODynamics_NA) April 29, 2020

Buick’s consumer website no longer even lists the 2019 LaCrosse, which could also be had in a very short-lived Avenir variant. It’s gone, just like the Eurotripping Cascada drop-top and, soon, the Regal line. This year marks the last go-round for that historic nameplate. Come 2021, Buick will be an all-crossover brand.

It’ll still boast more models than Chrysler, at least.

Being a weirdo who loves large domestic sedans, my time behind the wheel of an ’18 LaCrosse was a week well spent, with the big boat proving surprisingly thrifty on a road trip. The car’s lane-holding system also ranked above average in its ability to keep the thing between the lines, the front seat was cavernous, and the handling? Positively nautical. That’s a big strike for many, I guess.

GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant punted the LaCrosse back in March 2019 as it shed product ahead of expected closure. That mothballing didn’t come to pass, but GM’s cull of its Detroit-built big passenger cars is now complete. The Chevrolet Impala bit the dust in late February, not long after the Cadillac CT6 full-sizer similarly departed both the plant and the market. The Chevy Volt proved an early victim of Mary Barra’s cost-cutting axe.

Now, D-Ham awaits its new life as an electric vehicle hub.

As for those juicy LaCrosse offers, one wonders how many exist on lots around the country. Cars.com shows only nine 2019 LaCrosses. Indeed, Buick sold just 138 of them in the U.S. in the first three months of the year, with 463 sold in the final quarter of 2019.

[Image: General Motors]