By ALEX LAW
Original article at: http://www.autoweek.com/cat_content.mv?port_code=autoweek&cat_code=carnews&loc_code=index&content_code=01887841


FIVE MINUTES ON THE road in a V8-powered 2004 Rainier sport/utility vehicle will make it abundantly clear what the future of GM’s Buick division looks like, or sounds like, or actually doesn’t sound like.

General Motors product czar Bob Lutz and the corporation’s management team have decided that Buick—closing in on its 100th anniversary in the car-making business on May 19—will become GM’s Lexus-like division. Cadillac is well into a plan to remake itself in the image of BMW and Mercedes-Benz, so the refined Teutonic performance front is covered. But Buick, suggests Lutz, could become the domestic equivalent of Toyota’s luxury brand—at least from a noise, vibration and harshness perspective.

This will become obvious, says Lutz, with the Rainier (above), due in September as Buick’s first model from the line of SUVs that now includes Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy and the soon-to-depart Oldsmobile Bravada. It was indeed a drive in a specially prepared TrailBlazer that convinced Lutz and GM CEO and chairman-designate Rick Wagoner that ultraquiet and ultrasmooth is the way for Buick to go.

Lutz says he told the SUV engineering team to stuff every bit of soundproofing and NVH-deadening they could into a test TrailBlazer, which he and Wagoner took for a drive. Both men were impressed with the results, Lutz says, so the decision to go Lexus-like was born.

Toyota points out that there’s a lot more to the success of its Lexus brand than an unearthly quiet at speed. There is the exceptional fit-and-finish, along with fine interior accoutrements and a legendary quality record. Lutz acknowledges those points, and says he is aiming Buick in the same direction. For the moment, however, Lutz is encouraged by Buick’s advances on NVH, since he believes that will be a key ingredient to the marque’s success. The other things have different teams staying up late, he notes, with their advances to be measured at a later time.

Though everyone at Buick and GM’s product development teams is concerned with the future of the old “doctor’s car” marque, which built cars that were “powerful, substantial, distinctive and mature” through the 1990s, no one is in crisis mode.

Many of the brand’s aging car lines are selling well, along with the more youth-oriented Rendezvous crossover SUV. A more powerful and upscale version of the Rendezvous, the Ultra, debuts at the New York Auto Show featuring GM’s new 3.6-liter dohc V6.

Buick also has the most famous and successful sports personality in the world on its side—golfer Tiger Woods. Woods will stay exclusive to Buick, Lutz affirms, and the brand will become even more related to golf, with Cadillac stepping back.

Lutz hopes to make a generational leap with Buick, taking it back to the children of the baby boomers who generally ignored the brand because their parents admired it. Buick will continue to sell its LeSabres and Park Avenues quietly to boomer parents, while pitching Woods and the Rendezvous to anyone under the age of 40.

And setting its sights on the growing market of those aspiring to sit in the lap of Lexus-like luxury.

Sounds like Oldsmobiles vision. I guess Buick will be the next to die! :rolleyes:

Not as long as their are old people!!!

Was this was Oldsmobile was going for? Buick's Park Avenue is already a pretty nice car. If they're going to make their cars with less road-noise, softer suspensions and keep up with everything else they're doing - I think they'll be fine..

Though I never really understood why Oldsmobile was dropped. Too little, too late?

I never did either, i guess people werent buying because if they wanted a fast looking car that was still economical, they got chevy or pontiac, and if they wanted economical luxuary they got buick....

Cause Olds used to be muscle car with a 455 engine that apealed to "mature" (old) people. Now they have little crappy 4 bangers and DOHC V8s borrowed from Cadillac, and the FWD. They're not floaty anymore, which they thought was and accompishment, so old people didnt like them. That leaves one customer left. Someone who wants muscle and performance. It has a 4 banger and is FWD. Enough said. If GM would simply converts most of their line to RWD with AWD as an option, people might acutally start considering them.

Originally posted by 03EscaladeAWD
Cause Olds used to be muscle car with a 455 engine that apealed to "mature" (old) people. Now they have little crappy 4 bangers and DOHC V8s borrowed from Cadillac, and the FWD. They're not floaty anymore, which they thought was and accompishment, so old people didnt like them. That leaves one customer left. Someone who wants muscle and performance. It has a 4 banger and is FWD. Enough said. If GM would simply converts most of their line to RWD with AWD as an option, people might acutally start considering them.

Well, in the early 80's Oldsmobile was given the goal to make a performance-bred 4banger with decent power, economical, reliable and fun. They made the Quad4. to make a long story short, it is a very nice engine, one of the first high performance DOHC 4bangers mass produced (before that it was like little 1.6L in Chevettes etc..) the Quad was was the pioneer to such enignes as the NorthStar and Auora, they are heavily based off the Quad4. no Quad4 and no N*

I am sad to see Oldsmobile go..... they were around for ever, and made nice engines.... the old Rocket was really nice, the old big black, the 307 which had no power at all but was reliable like crazy and would never, ever die, then the Quad4.

It's sad that the Grand Am, Pontiacs best selling car will be dropped also for the new G6 concept.

I loved that 307, too. I had a 1985 Delta 88 that I bought new. Once, on a trip from Memphis to Gulfport I got 25 mpg with the A/C running all the way.

I didn't appreciate the build quality and comfort of those cars back then. Now I'd give almost anything to find a comparable car at a comparable price. Maybe that's why I'm so interested in Cadillacs again.

I really hope GM's goal is a success. I mean its not like Buicks competing against Bentley or something, ITS TOYOTA FOR CHRISTS SAKE!!!! Shove the Japanese market back to where it belongs, in Asia, and leave North America for the American-European competition.

But the japanese brands are doing better than some (dare i say most) american brands.....

There's nothing wrong with Toyota.. Remember.. They made the TT Supra.. They know how to make serious cars...

Toyota and Nissan are the best jap brands, IMO... They make the lexus, and my beloved infiniti...... :)

Shove the Japanese market back to where it belongs, in Asia, and leave North America for the American-European competition.

That would be an easier task if it were not for American customers preferring imports over domestic made cars year after year. Hey, Lutz is just now turning GM around from being a pathetic company not far from collapse. The Japanese have been building quaility for years now. Lutz will catch them...in time.

Edited to add:

Buick attracting younger buyers? :rofl: FWD, rides like a boat, handles like boat, looks like boat. Nope, not gonna happen anytime soon. At least Olds was trying to change their image. If Buick wants to go after Lexus/BMW, they have one hell of a long way to go. No doubt Lexus is just peeing thersevleves over this recent announcement. :helpless:

Its not something they cant do........ Sure, they will have some work to do, but they attracted a whole new genre of buyers when they released the rendezvous..... and then their going to release the new SUV type thing (i cant remember the name)

Its not something they cant do


Of course. Even Hyundai evolved from being a crappy, poor person's, entry-level marque into a value conscious, quality, growing marque. Changing a brand's image is possible. Its just that Buick fostered an image of blandness for so long, its going to be hard to change that, especially with entrenched competition that has a reputation for quality far surpassing anything made by GMUSA for the past 30+ years. I would have preferred Olds get the nod, but it just wasn't meant to be.

I would have prefered Oldsmobile to go head to head with Lexus as well. But, Buick does make great automobiles.. It'll take much longer than it would have taken Oldsmobile - but it'll happen. They're going to have some really nice looking cars within the next few years.. I still can't believe they went from Grand National - to nothing...

I still can't believe they went from Grand National - to nothing...


Agreed. When the GN died, Buick died for me. Now, all they want to be is a pseudo-luxury pretender geared only toward old people who cannot afford anything better yet failed to realize that a Buick loses over half its value in less than 3 years. This is the reality that Buick has to change. Olds would have had a better shot because they had already changed their image and were going more toward a youthful market.

Pfff, Buick calls themselves "premium" automobiles. The wood in the interior is plastic, doesn't sound very premium to me. Heres what they need:

1. More wood in that plastic interior, and no more plastic. Only premium matterials.
2.Advertisement-Most people dont know who Harley Earl is, (but we all know he is great) and their commercials dont say much about what the car is. Just that its made by some dead guy.
3.A better logo. People look at the L and think Lexus. People look at the tri-shield, and they dont know what it is. Maybe use the logo from the 50s.
4.A RWD 4 door V8 sedan. Every American manufacturer should have one, especially a premium one.
5.Scrap the supercharged V6. Its un-american. Their moto is "The Spirit of American Style" Supercharging a V6 isn't very American. Go V8 instead, even if it means stretching the front a bit. I'm sure consumers woudn't mind.
6.Go RWD with AWD as an option. Some people hate FWD, some people hate RWD. Make them all happy and leave AWD as an option, and since more people hate FWD, make RWD standard.
7.Stop Saturn production. They ruin the American theme for GM. Put their cars in Chevy with a little restyling, if you need some of Saturn's moneymaking cars.

I'm sure theres more I haven't thought of. I'll edit it in if I think of more.

The Harley Earl thing is ridiculous. It's like ummmm, isnt that the crooked police chief from The Shield. "I'm Harley Earl, and i've come back from the dead, and puked when I saw the current Buick line-up"

Since I'm a young'in, I've always seen Buick as this confused luxury car line. GM never really did anything 'cool' with it.

After watching what happened with Oldsmobile.. I think to myself, damn... what is this company doing? I guess they have their 'performance' company [Pontiac].. they have their trucks [GMC], they have high end luxury [Cadillac], they have value [Saturn], they have a generic catch-all [Chevy], and so now what.. value luxury?

I just don't know what they could do with it. Damn freaks. Olds was putting out some nice looking cars! :confused:

I hope somebody from Buick comes here to read this. There's a lot of useful information and good suggestions here...

Since I'm a young'in, I've always seen Buick as this confused luxury car line. GM never really did anything 'cool' with it.

When Buick kiled the Grand National and went to an all FWD platform (save for the Roadmaster for a short time), they firmly positioned themselves to be "Cadillac lite." Today, Bucik has absolutely NOTHING in their range that a sub-50 year old looks at and say, "DAMN! I gotta have me a Buick _________." The Reatta looked like Buick's best attempt at a younger generation, but with the insanely high price when compared to a Miata, it being FWD, and having the garbage GM interior of the time, it was a flop.

Buick has nothing that stands out to make a statement as a marque. Olds had the Aurora that garnered acclaim. Buick has ?????? I certainly hope Buick and Lutz are successful. I am not anti-America in any way, but I don't sugar coat posts either. Maybe if Lutz can make Buick viable again, maybe then Harley can borrow him for awhile so they can actually make a technologically advanced bike that can actually compete with the world on quality instead of nostalgia....make a racing bike that can not only compete with the Japanese, but beat them too!

You know, I wonder just how hard it would be to swap out the FWD Buick Reatta engine and swap in a Northstar in a RWD configuration? Hmmmmmmm, RWD Reatta. Now that would be bad ass! :cowboy:

Buicks most luxurious car is the Fifth Avenue.. It's nice but not very stylish... But overall it's a pretty nice car..

Buicks most luxurious car is the Fifth Avenue.. It's nice but not very stylish... But overall it's a pretty nice car..

Don't you mean "Park Avenue"? Chrysler made the "Fifth Avenue". :confused: Or is it Chry-cedes now? :tisk: You know those guys who stole one of our American Car Companies, in a so called merger then kicked out all of the American board members and high level management, but hasn't really tried to merge in the Benz legend of reliablity and class with Chryslers styling and price range.

Yes, my mistake. I keep getting them confused.. Park Avenue! :) Thank you...

Yeah, the Park Avenue is nice. I'll take a black or silver one for my jeep in a heartbeat. You could put sales up at least 10,000 if you make it V8 RWD.

Maybe if Lutz can make Buick viable again, maybe then Harley can borrow him for awhile so they can actually make a technologically advanced bike that can actually compete with the world on quality instead of nostalgia....make a racing bike that can not only compete with the Japanese, but beat them too!

Lets hope for GM's sake that they do get Buick going. Otherwise, I think it's just going to be another one of those car lines without a market. That's a rather important thing in a capitalistic economy! ha! :banghead2

Your right on the mark with Harley. I ride my Yammie because it has better style, better handling, better engine, better feel.. hey, guess that means it's a better bike! Harley only gets where it is now because of their heritage.. which admittedly is a proud and powerful one... one that I appreciate just as much as Cadillac's and Pontiac's.

I remember when I walked into the Harley dealer here, they didn't even give me a glance. They thought I was just a kid looking at bikes, though I was a kid (20yrs old) with a 25k credit line ready. I looked around, someone helped me out, but they wouldn't let a 'kid' (who just passed his MSF with a 100%, and has been riding mopeds since 10..) sit on any of their bikes. Heck, I really wasnt interested in anything.. save the Road King. I remember the look on the guys face when I whipped out the letter from the bank, and said, "Too bad I don't get to buy my bike from you." The Yammie dealer was 100% opposite.. and when I saw the V-Star, it was exactly the look and the bike I wanted. Great starter big-twin.

Anyhow.... <smacks self for going off topic>

We'll just have to see. Honestly, I think they should have gotten rid of Buick and kept Oldsmobile. I still love the looks of the Alero and the Intrigue.

We'll just have to see. Honestly, I think they should have gotten rid of Buick and kept Oldsmobile. I still love the looks of the Alero and the Intrigue.


I couldn't agreee more. Time will tell, but I thought they made a mistake that will come back to haunt them.