I told you Buick didn't have the balls.

"LJ909" (lj909) 01/21/2016 at 12:30 • Filed to: None

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Looks like we aren’t going to be seeing the Avista or Avenir anytime soon. Buick Chief Duncan Aldred told Automobile Magazine that they aren’t going to build the Avenir because of fear of cannibalizing sales from Cadillac with a more upmarket sedan. On the above Avista, he basically hinted at Buick using design cues from the car over the next few years. Not anything about it going into production. On top of all that disappointment he said Buick’s halo car is, wait for it:

The Cascada! Seriously. A 2 door Regal with the top chopped off which itself is a transplant from another country and can be compared to an American Toyota Solara is Buick’s halo car. Since when does a concept car make more sense than something that’s in production? Get your shit together Buick.

Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 12:34

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Today in Entirely Predictable News...

wiffleballtony > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 12:35

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Let me put on my shocked face. No wait, that’s not it. I had it here earlier...

Tapas > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 12:36

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Well, ain’t that a bitch...

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 12:43

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Caddy and Buick should be like Chevy and GMC. One starts a little lower in the market and the other runs a little higher (or a lot higher in this case), and where they meet in the middle they are mostly an alternate styling. There are lots of people that would buy a Caddy over the competition if they looked a little less "hard-edged" (though I personally love it).

In the end I don't see that it matters, all the $$$ goes back to GM anyway. If it would bring in any new customers it should get a green light.

Svend > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 12:45

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The Cascada is starting to get on in years (in production since early 2013) and in need of a face lift at least to bring it in line with the new face of Vauxhall and Opel.

I’d imagine the concept above may see production or at least some of the styling cues in the next three years.

Birddog > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 12:47

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So Buick shows the car(s) they need and then build the car only rental agencies are going to buy.

That's gonna leave a mark! > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 12:48

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I would think the Buick name would carry less baggage in the attempt to get younger customers. Is that just my opinion of the brands?

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 12:49

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At least the new LeSabre Park Avenue Lucerne Lacrosse looks good.

LJ909 > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 01/21/2016 at 12:49

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Yea but of course GM doesn’t really do things that make sense a lot. Case in point with the Avista: all the tooling is there. The platform and engine. And they still wont go ahead with it.

LJ909 > Svend 01/21/2016 at 12:51

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I didn’t know it was that old. Kinda of dumb for them to bring it over here without a facelift.

LJ909 > That's gonna leave a mark! 01/21/2016 at 12:55

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Less baggage in a good or bad way?

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 13:01

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The weird thing is, the exact feature of GM you are describing is also responsible for some of their most oddly awesome cars. They won’t produce this but will produce some FWD convertible that will probably flop, but:

The Grand National (and GNX more so) was crazy. Uh, we have this family car. That happens to be a Buick. Uh, turbo?

Syclone. Compact truck? GMC? 4.3V6? Turbo? Sub-5 second 0-60? Some of these things don’t belong.

CTS-V Wagon w/ manual. No more dialouge needed.

Even my truck, while not exactly balls-out crazy, is an inside into GM’s corporate brain. We have this small truck. It’s widely regarded as unrefined at best. It’s going out of production in 3 years. So, V8 rangetopper? Makes perfect sense.

So, the Avenir has been scrapped, but there’s an Escalade-V in the pipes. The Avista is dead, but at some point GM is bound to give us a twin-turbo AWD Encore.

I would buy the SHIT out of that btw.

Svend > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 13:06

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Saturn did it with the Astra (H). Took it over for one year (it’s final year) of production before it was replaced with the new Astra (J).

As far as I’m aware they haven’t facelifted the Regal while the Insignia got a facelift back in 2013.

Old

New

LJ909 > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 01/21/2016 at 13:07

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GM is backwards in the best and worst senses and your description of those oddball vehicles says it. I haven’t heard any rumors though of an Escalade V since talks of a second gen with a V12 were heard around 03 or so.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 13:10

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Even as a fanboy (sort of) I have to admit that.

The Escalade V (E/V!!!) was confirmed a few months ago iirc. Or it could be just a Vsport. Either way it gets an LT4.

LJ909 > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 01/21/2016 at 13:13

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I could go for a V-Sport standard wheelbase though. Hopefully they do it right. You never know, it could lead to a Tahoe SS.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 13:22

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Personally I’d like to see a proper 454SS Silverado again. I mean, the LT4's great, but 454SS just sounds right and it needs the displacement to back that up.

I wouldn’t worry about getting it right. GM generally does the wrong product right and the one that genuinely needs attention wrong. Case in point: Malibu Maxx SS. Nobody asked for that. they would have been better off just IMPROVING the Malibu interior. But they made an SS, and it drove brilliantly. The Colorado could have been a great truck. It had a very solid frame, good if not great driveline, and great looks. It needed some noise deadening, a bit of engine tuning and an interior that wasn’t stolen from Daewoo. All relatively easy fixes. But it was left to moulder in the corner while they got busy turbocharging a Cobalt.

You know, I'm going to stop now. GM's given me enough examples to go on all afternoon, and ain't nobody got time fo' dat.

Sweet Trav > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 14:21

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Actually the Cascada is not a 2 door regal, it is an Astra Convertable.

LJ909 > Sweet Trav 01/21/2016 at 14:26

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That’s even worse.

PS9 > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 01/21/2016 at 15:03

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Nah. Chevy and GMC can get away with that because 1) Volume for truck/SUVs and the like in the US is and always has been enormous provided you’re selling something american and 2) Buyers in that market don’t want to look at anything that isn’t american made. Those two factors allow GM to build a business case around badge swappery in that segment, but in the luxury market buyers stick to Europe and the volume is much smaller. There isn’t space in the market for two luxury Marquees at GM; they have to differentiate, which means no cheap RWD Buicks for the forseeable future.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > PS9 01/21/2016 at 15:09

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Explain the sales phenomenon that is the Terrain/Equinox. Not a traditionalist segment. Would the Equinox sales go up if the Terrain was dropped? A little. Would all Terrain buyers flock to the Equinox? Not likely.

Anyway it is and will remain an opinion because it ain't gonna happen.

That's gonna leave a mark! > LJ909 01/21/2016 at 15:39

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I would say in a good way as I think many more people think of Cadillac as an old retired mans car, could be ethnic at times - ie mobsters and such and wanting to show off are just a few ideas out there. I just think Buick suffers these less.

PS9 > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 01/21/2016 at 15:51

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Explain the sales phenomenon that is the Terrain/Equinox. Not a traditionalist segment.

Sure.

1. That’s a Crossover.
2. That’s a Crossover.
3. That’s a Crossover. It is hardly an earth shattering revelation that GM makes money with crossovers to the extent that a business model can be built on rebadging them, given the explosive growth that segment has experienced in the US market.

That crossovers have been a license for brands both domestic and foreign to print money doesn’t tell us anything about what cheap RWD luxury Buicks would do in the market. We know enough about that segment to guess, though; caddy would be cannibalized, which is why Buick won’t be allowed to build them.

LJ909 > That's gonna leave a mark! 01/21/2016 at 16:13

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Not really. Buick suffers the same old persons image as Cadillac, if not more. Most people have known or had their grandparents or older people that have had a Buick model at some point in their life. The old persons car stigma sticks with the brand like glue, even today. That’s why they have been trying to bring their average buyer age down as of late, with little success I might add.