By the standards of niche market convertibles, the Buick Cascada is, or at least was, a certifiable hit.
Sales of the Cascada have tumbled by a fifth in 2017, year-over-year. More recently, Cascada sales fell by nearly 40 percent during the height of the summer. But since going on sale at the beginning of 2016, more than 11,000 Buick Cascadas have been sold in the United States. At times, the Buick has even outsold Mazda’s MX-5 Miata. And no, before you draw an entirely incorrect conclusion, hardly any Cascadas have gone into the daily rental mix. More than 99 percent of the Buick Cascadas sold in America were retail acquisitions.
But for its third model year, Buick feels it’s time to spice things up. The Cascada, historically available in very few shades, is getting new paint options for the 2018 model year. Why?
“Color is back,” Buick’s Catherine Black says.
Or is it? Black is the lead designer of Buick’s Color and Trim Studio, and she points out that, “80 percent of the exterior colors purchased globally are neutrals — black, silver or grey.”
But Black also believes there is also an appetite for a real color palette. So for 2018, Buick is adding new top colors to the previous black-only family: a brown roof called Sweet Mocha and the wine-hued Malbec. As for paint options, there’s a new red called Rioja, another Dark Moon Blue, and a foresty green called Carrageen.
In 2017, the basic Cascada was marketed in just two colours: white and blue. One rung up, the Cascada Premium was available only in white, blue, silver, or brown. The top-trim Cascada Sport Touring was a red or blue affair, only. The new colors aren’t available across the board, but the top trim, for instance, is now available in five shades rather than two.
It’s hardly earth-shattering news, but it’s not Buick-exclusive news, either. For example, color is making an appearance on the 2018 Acura MDX, one of many vehicles historically linked to the colorless. San Marino, a bright red hue, will be available on top-spec Advance models, a major turnaround for a vehicle that majored on greys and blacks.
At Buick, where the brand says 70 percent of Cascada buyers were previously non-GM customers (making the model more popular than droptop versions of the BMW 2 Series and Audi A3), new paint options aren’t enough to make the 1.6-liter turbo more powerful or the 4,000-pound curb weight less prodigious. But in an increasingly monochromatic car universe, we’ll be happy when any automaker says, “Color is back.” Even if it’s up to you, the customer, to actually choose the colorful options.
[Images: General Motors]
Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars and Instagram.
Geez that thing looks like it is bent over getting ready to run a track.
Yeah…we’ll go with…run a track.
You stay classy San Diego.
It’s not up to us yet to choose them, except for the very small majority that do custom orders. First it’s up to the dealers to choose to stock the colours.
TIL: There is a thing called the Buick Cascada.
Apparently Cascada is Spanish for unicorn, at least in my area. I see 3-5 Murano Crosscabrios on a regular basis, so I can’t chalk it up to a lack of appetite for convertibles.
At Buick, where the brand says 70 percent of Cascada buyers were previously non-GM customers…
Well yeah what else are you going to buy when it’s time to trade in your Sebring or 200 convertible?
The non cynic in me says “Mustang 5.0 convertible in Competition Orange.”
The cynic in me says “prepaid burial plots.”
Those are on clearance for a limited time.
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Don’t forget Eos! They don’t make those anymore, so wealthy widows would have had to drive their late husbands’ classic Austin-Healeys if the Cascada hadn’t come alone. And lack of power steering is a PITA once the arthritis kicks in.
Nice colors wrong car.
Have to admit I like all three colors. Would personally go for the green or maroon over the blue, but that’s me. I’d take the blue if the other two colors didn’t exist.
I think the Deep Sky metallic is pretty nice.
Ironic that the person in charge of color and trim has the last name Black.
I applaud the availability of color, especially having a top in a color other than Black. At least on the computer screen I’m liking the Maroon.
This is encouraging news. In addition, the new Buick Regal Sportback is available in the Carrageen green color, and the Buick Regal TourX is available in a bright Sport Red. I hope this will become more of a trend, and not just with Buick. Now, the real question is, will the dealers actually stock any of the interesting colors, and will customers buy them?
They will at first, as it is the norm for the mfg to set the initial production configurations. So it all hinges on buyers snapping up the colors and leaving the greige ones on the lot at the start. If they sell out of their red, blue or green immediately then they will order more. If those sit through the first 90 days or so you can kiss the colors goodby. The fact that they don’t do the daily rental fleet with these is not encouraging since the MFG typically picks the colors for those, if they buyer wants to qualify for the buy-back agreements.
I am a big fan of green cars, so I pay attention to these things. GM is notorious for introducing a green color and discontinuing it the next year. This is the case with the current LaCrosse, and the Impala and Cruze before that. They usually continue to make some sort of subdued red or blue available, but green always gets the ax.
I do like the new colors as they appear on my monitor.
Now, if they put them on the upcoming Regal TourX, I’d be VERY interested.
You’re in luck with two out of three. Darkmoon Blue and Rioja Red are available on both the Regal TourX and Sportback, but Carrageen is Sportback only.
“Will you buy a Cascada…”
NO
“…that’s not silver?”
Sorry, didn’t realize there was a second half to that question. I do applaud the return of green, but the car beneath it is still “no”.
Has it really been 3 years already? I’ve still only seen one of these things on the road, and it was this past summer.
“Color is back,” says Cat Black.
This has the makings of a great nursery rhyme.
On the actual topic, I am strongly in favor of ANY addition to the color palette at this point. This car is not really on my list, but my chroma receptors will welcome a change from gray and black.
I live in Warren.Where ever other car is a GM. And I have seen 2 of these on the road. I just assumed they were all for rental in Florida.