Buick. It’s not a company often discussed or highly regarded by Gen-Xers. I’d venture to say it’s regarded even less by the younger generations. Handicap tags. Walkers. 40mph in the fast lane. That is the association many have with Buick. This is about to change.
Buick recently held an event in Irving, TX to showcase the new 2010 LaCrosse. Let me be the first to say, as a card-carrying Gen-Xer, this car does not belong in an assisted-living parking lot. Honestly, I think the technology in this car will baffle even many computer literate baby-boomers. You name it, and it’s there…rear-view camera and parking assist, heads-up display, keyless start, and my personal favorite, a 40GB hard drive. Need to take a call with the Bluetooth-linked speaker phone? Well, the radio will pause the broadcast and then resume from the same spot when you end your call. The interior looks great as well. The Ice-Blue ambient lighting carries through the entire car and accentuates the quality stitching and wood panels.
As I hung around the LaCrosse outside Cool River Cafe that night, many comments were overheard such as “Wow! That looks great!” and “It looks like a Lexus.” Many would think that the LaCrosse would be a bit out of its league sitting across from the row of valeted BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus vehicles. Many would be wrong. It really does look that great. However, GM, lose the fake vents. You’re not fooling anyone by moving them from the fender to the hood. The vents are much more painful now that they’re a blemish on an otherwise outstanding design.
Now it’s just a matter of time for the public to shake the geriatric stigma of Buick. The 2010 LaCrosse is a great start. Let’s just hope it drives as well as it looks. If so, watch out Lexus.
Thanks to GM for putting on this event. It was fun and the food and drinks were great. For those of you on Twitter, make sure to follow @GMTexas for the latest and greatest of what they are doing.
@BerryLowman
Nice write up! I’ve always had a soft spot for Buick. They always seemed to get second billing to Cadillac as the, “if you can’t afford a Caddy, try the Buick.” It was an unfair position GM put them in for years that only seemed to have gotten worse after the Oldsmobile brand died. Buick deserved better and Harley J. Earl wouldn’t have stood for it!
As we enter the “new GM” era. I’m glad to see Buick is trying to recapture some of their former glory in a fresh, new way. If I needed a luxury family hauler, I’d buy a Buick in a heartbeat. Now, if they just had something to capture the crowd they excited back when they made the rare but awesome Grand National and GNX back in 1986-87.
Hey GM. If you are listening, how about removing the back doors from the former Pontiac G8, letting the Buick stylists have their way with it and relaunch it as the new GN?!? You could then offer a limited run supercharged variant with tuned Z51-style suspension, brakes, magnetic select ride and badge it as a GNX. That would go a long, long way toward getting Gen X, Y and younger into a Buick. Just an idea …
It looks like Buick may finally be on the road toward actually “leading the way.”