While hit rapper Drake may favor Range Rovers as his ride of choice, the may have been talking about the new Buick Encore when he rapped on his hit song “Headlines” “You gon hype me up and make me catch a body like that”. The Buick Encore, barely unveiled just 48 hours ago, has generated lots of hype at TTAC, and according to Automotive News, has already “bodied” a future GM product – the GMC Granite.
The Granite never got past the concept car stage, but plans were set for GMC to bring the car into production using the same underpinnings as the Chevrolet Cruze. The concept had suicide doors and a re-configurable cabin, although those likely wouldn’t have made it to production, lest GM invest substantially in lots of new tooling.
Buick’s Encore seems to have thrown a wrench into the Granite’s plans. Why bother selling the Granite and Encore side-by-side in GMC-Buick showrooms? Furthermore, what kind of brand equity does GMC have with the Granite’s target demographic of (here we go again) young, urban buyers.
Th’ granite looks better than the (Buick) Encore (I love the Renault version), but what’s with the lack of glass? I mean, the price hasn’t gone through the roof, has it? Uh, GM, you need glass to see where you’re going. It helps to have a clear view in all directions.
Glass is heavy compared to metal. Mazda used to hype it a lot with the 3rd gen RX7 as to how much weight they saved having a smaller greenhouse.
That’s the new trend. To look where you’re going, you need in dash cameras to guide you. It’s like piloting the Enterprise.
Well when you put it that way it sounds pretty awesome.
Yeah! …but I’m waiting for the price if dilithium-ion batteries to come down before I buy one.
That being the case, why don’t I just beam to work and skip buying a new vehicle, Granite or otherwise?
More like piloting the Excelsior! The Enterprise is an E30 to the Granite.
So that is unfortunate. I am in the Encore’s ‘like’ camp, even though I find the engine choice a letdown. This is a lot more appealing though.
The Granite looks like a toy car to me.The Encore looks great to me.To each his own ;-]
Agreed. The Granite looks like the epitome of chunky pimp concept car – yuk.
I went to the same highschool as drake
Degrassi?
Simple equation really. Baby boomers generally have a hell of a lot more money than Gen Y. Therefore build the Buick and shitcan the GMC.
GMC & Car shouldn’t be in the same sentence.
New company slogan:
At GM, the more things change, the more things stay the same.
Reading this makes me wonder why GMC wasn’t discombobulated in the recent taxpayer-funded downsizing.
As always…follow the money.
In what way? If they had stayed the same old then you would get three or more badge engineered versions. As it is it seems only one version is coming here – that is progress.
I don’t get the purpose of the Encore and I’ll be surprised if they sell many of them to young-ish people. It’ll probably be all old people buying them.
I also don’t get why GM is selling the Orlando in Canada but not the USA. Seems like the Orlando would sell better than the tiny Encore. They could bling up an Orlando and badge it as a Buick for the US market.
Old people are just young people who finally have some money.
They are each so different, they could easily sell both side-by-side in Buick-GMC showrooms. They will each appeal to completely different customers.
If Drake stands accused (by anyone other than himself) of “bodying” anything more important than a Diet Canada Dry, it’s news to me.
Darn kids, back in my day rappers actually did “body” each other… in three feet of snow, uphill both ways. And you know what? It wasn’t really all that cool because it was real and real people were literally offed over record sales. And yet here we are, almost 16 years after Tupac was killed (age 25), and everyone with a career in the beat-driven music game is still yapping about their comfort level with the act of murder. Back then it was jarring, now it’s self-parody at best.
Pardon the digression. Back to the cars, you young whippersnappers!
That vehicle looks ideal for the Lego man on the go.
A boy-racer compact CUV? Where’s Pontiac when you need them?
Keeping GMC professional grade.
Shouldn’t there be a hamster behind the wheel of this thing?
Both the Buick and GMC are based on a sissy platform – but at least in the Granite you would look like a butch sissy
Scion xB, anyone ?
If I wanted a big, fat, melted box I’d go buy a Nissan Cube, at least I could back it up without using any cameras.
at first I was impressed by the Encore’s initial pictures. then I find out it’s slightly larger than a frying pan and coming from Korea. keep the damn thing, I’ll sell Fords first.
How does a small subcompact Scion / Soul competitor fit in with the GMC’s image of big, heavy duty trucks and their “Professional Grade” tagline? The design looks nice and will likely fit better as a Chevy or even a Buick.