“General Motors’ plug-in hybrid technology will be introduced in a new Buick crossover vehicle in 2011, Tom Stephens, GM vice chairman of product development, announced here today during the Management Briefing Seminars.” Did someone get paid to write that sentence? I prefer this “free” one from TTAC commentator MR42HH: “Slapping a Buick badge on a Korean engineered CUV with faux Opel styling is a good idea? To my eyes, this is pure ‘Old GM’ badge engineering mania. It’s the ‘Buick Opel by Isuzu’ all over again.” Did someone say Saturn Vue to a kill? No? So what’s the official explanation for adding another crossover—albeit one with a cord (so not a Cord)—to Buick’s moribund lineup?
The new five-passenger crossover will build on the success of the Buick Enclave, offering the brand’s finely crafted execution and premium driving experience in a fuel-efficient package.
“Some customers who have been drawn to the Enclave were looking for something a little smaller, but they didn’t want to give up craftsmanship or a quiet ride to get there,” said Susan Docherty, general manager of Buick-Pontiac-GMC. “We believe this new Buick will excite those customers, and will continue to broaden the appeal of the brand.”
So the Enclave is too BIG, not too expensive? Which movie contained the ironic tag-line “I’ll buy that for a dollar”? Like that.
Oh, by the way. Not a Volt.
The Buick plug-in hybrid will use the same manganese-spinel based chemistry and polymer battery cells as the Volt. The 8 kWh battery—containing half the energy of the Volt battery pack—will be packaged in a rectangular-shaped box under the cargo floor.
On the road, GM’s 2-Mode plug-in hybrid system can use any combination of electric or gasoline engine power to move the vehicle, depending on the driving conditions. This differs from GM’s Voltec technology, which provides the Volt with up to 40 miles of emissions- and petroleum-free electric-only propulsion, and an overall range of more than 300 miles with its flex-fuel engine-generator.
Well,
If you invested the money into the technology, you might as well try and get a return on it, right ?
Is it a smart idea for another CUV, Probably not…..
This isn’t actually a bad idea: a tall wagon with decent luxury features and a plug-in hybrid powertrain.
The problem is the Buick badge.
The brand has negative equity, no matter how much it’s fans and GM Marketing wish it to be otherwise. GM had a brand with neutral or positive equity, decent demographics and the cachet to pull this off. That brand would be Saab. A plug-in 9-4x would be a really good idea. A plug-in hybrid in a brand with a older, much more conservative demographic is a really bad place for a small, technologically-leading product.
Mark my words, GM is doing to Buick what it did to Olds, Pontiac and Saturn: shovelling product at it in hopes that something stick. When Buick fails to get traction after eighteen months, they’ll walk away rather than sticking it out.
Again. Good product. Wrong brand.
I love this idea. It’s good technology, and Saturn is no longer GM’s outlet for this vehicle, so why the hell not? I wonder that if they’re going to be making these things for Penske (Vues), how similar are they going to be to the future Buick version?
Since Saturn is dead, and the Vue/Vue hybrid along with it, this is more a case of “badge adoption” for the poor orphan.
I mean, if they’d already done most of the work, anyway, well, what the hell? Why not offer 9 hybrids that don’t sell instead of just 8?
Or will this be 10 hybrids that don’t sell instead of 9? It’s so easy to lose track.
Good luck trying to catch up to Ford. I mean, Toyota’s hybrids aren’t even in radar range for GM.
And GM might as well use the Buick badge. Given GM’s track record, it’s going to be so expensive there’s no way it could be a Chevy.
I don’t know, this might go over well in gated Florida communities. The q-tips might like something enclosed and air-conditioned to drive around in NEV mode instead of their golf carts. They’re the only remaining Buick demographic anyway.
It’s a niche market, but when you’ve utterly failed to demonstrate mass-market appeal there’s money to be made by catering to increasing number of diverse niches.
I feel that this will be as successful as when Ford rebadged the FIve Hundred as the Taurus. The customer isn’t stupid, and they will be able to tell that they are just getting a repackaged Saturn Vue.
GM used to be able to throw on 7 different grills for every model.
They’re now down to five.
They ARE making progress….
As much as I’d like to bash this I can’t help but think of now many older people I see driving the Prius (at least out here in western Washington). This might mot be a bad idea. With Saturn gone I’d hate to see the R&D that went into this thing go completely to waste.
Saab would have been a great brand to use the powertrain but *not* the platform. The Vue is simply not a Saab in any way, shape, or form.
$32K+ for the Buick Subdivision PHEV? Sounds like the recipe for yet another Federal incentive.
Anyone remember the Buick Terraza? No? How about the Rainier? One brand’s trash is Buick’s treasure. Or, not.
Although for Docherty to spin it as though it was a stroke of genius with true marketing merit is completely disingenuous. She’s about as “in-touch” with her brand as Michelle Bachmann is with reality.
Actually, Jonathan, since you bring it up… an increasing number of people actually are starting to agree with Michelle Bachmann and others who’ve been stating the same things.
I’d best shut up now, since someone might report me as suspicious to the Stazi – whoops, I mean white house.
Sorry, that was meant to be extreme sarcasm.
In America, we are still allowed to say what we want – even if our voice shakes. Or we happen to shout. Unless, of course, you shout things that the administration doesn’t want to hear then you might end up being tazed. Kind of like the prior administration. Only worse.
Difference wrt the Ford 500/Taurus is that FMC never tried selling that vehicle as anything other than a Ford. That said, GM will have a fair amount of work to take a ‘Saturn’ & make it palatable for the Buick crowd.
IMHO they probably ought to make the Chevy Equinox the hybrid and leave the conventional powertrain to the Buick. Pump up Chevy’s to be more Toyota-ish and leave Buick as wannabe upscale and not so cutting edge.
And rebadging a nice car like the G8 as a Caprice/Impala/Biscayne is a bad idea…
rm :
Lexus has hybrids in their lineup so it’s not a stretch to see that a hybrid *could* make sense for Buick. The *real* problem Buick faces is that it’s damaged goods here in the US.
“And rebadging a nice car like the G8 as a Caprice/Impala/Biscayne is a bad idea…” Exactly what I was thinking, why not rebadge something that somebody (even if it is a fleet buyer) would actually BUY.
“I’ll buy that for a dollar!”
movie was Robo Cop, which may have presented a optimistic vision of Detroit’s future
The customer isn’t stupid, and they will be able to tell that they are just getting a repackaged Saturn Vue.
I can’t really say I agree with you, but even if that’s the case, what’s wrong with it. The current Vue isn’t exactly a penalty box. It’s well built, the interior is quite nice, it will fill a void in Buick’s lineup, presumably slotting in between the upcoming Chevy Equinox and Cadillac SRX. If they price it right, it will be a nice addition to the lineup.
It’s well built, the interior is quite nice, it will fill a void in Buick’s lineup, presumably slotting in between the upcoming Chevy Equinox and Cadillac SRX.
And the GMC Terrain. And the Saab 9-4x.
I have a question: is the photo above a “rendered speculation”? Or are they really just going to try the Opel West thing on Buick? Since, you know, it worked so well for Saturn.
I don’t get it, I just don’t. Buick is probably GM’s most usless brand. Moreso than Pontiac, Saturn and Saab. Possibly more than GMC. Between the neither here nor there price point and the going-nowhere demographics, they have no future.
So why are we doing this, again?
I really hope they call it the RendezVue
The Opel Antara was launched in 06. Maybe it will receive a mid-cycle refresh next year and the Buick will be based on this.
Hopefully a better interior, revised front end and better NVH
Buick is GM’s Chinese brand. GM needs China and the fear is that if they close Buick in America they will be forced to divest GM China. The real solution for GM would be to kill Chevrolet and go on with Buick but i doubt they will as that would mean admitting that the North American market isn’t the most important one
Maybe we are looking at this from the wrong angle. Instead of thinking this is just another example of GM’s confused brand management maybe we should realize that all manufacturers are going to have to make a lot more hybrid and electric cars.
We can’t keep sending our money to OPEC, Mexico, Argentina, and even Canada to buy oil.
We can’t keep putting oil in our cars and using 70% of it just to make noise and heat and only 30% to move the vehicle.
Pumping oil, shipping oil, refining oil, trucking oil and then only getting 30% efficiency out of it just doesn’t make much sense anymore.
folkdancer,
To be sure.
But, to be worthwhile, these elctrics and hybrids must be effective AND affordable. This ain’t going to be any of that.
Buick get this because most Buicks in China are just re-badged Opels and Korean cars anyway, so this fits right in. Where does this fit in with the spy photos of the small Buick crossover we saw a while back? Are they the same, or will they be sold together?
And isn’t GM still going to produce the Vue for Saturn for a couple more years? If so, why take the design back only to slap a new grill on it?
And why do I keep asking these stupid question?! This is GM we are talking about.
Buick DejaVUE