The Buick Regal Sedan is Dead; Long Live the 5-Door

AVANTI R5 · 03-18-2017, 10:06 AM

Quote:

General Motors has plans to swap the American spec Buick Regal sedan with the brand’s first wagon in ages. The replacement Regals are anticipated to be rebadged Opel Insignia Grand Sport hatchbacks and Sports Tourer wagons, both of which were on display at the 87th Geneva International Motor Show this month.

Ditching the sedan is big deal since it’s been Buick’s preferred body style and the only way to get a Regal since 1996. Granted, the five-door should appear sedan-like until it’s time to put away the groceries and the glass raises to offer unprecedented access to that sweet rear end. Those with the most highly evolved automotive palates will — obviously — opt for the unadulterated perfection that is the station wagon.

Interestingly, 1996 was also the final year consumers had access to Buick-based minivan alternatives like the Roadmaster Wagon. (I promise you, we did not mean to mention the Roadmaster three times in one day. —Mark) The death of the wood-paneled V8 estate would lead to a string of years where the 3800 Series sedans would become the brand’s only option, a trend broken by the introduction of the Rendezvous in 2001.

Opel Insignia Grand Sport

Regal deliveries dropped like a stone tied to a lead weight since it’s 2011 reintroduction, settling to the bottom at half that year’s annual sales almost immediately and staying there ever since. Considering U.S. sales of midsize sedans have also dwindled over the last couple of years, swapping to a different bodystyle is in the Regal’s best interest. At this point, it’s almost more surprising that GM didn’t just decide to make it into another crossover.

While a sedan version is likely to continue on in China — where Buick is universally adored — Automotive News reported LMC Automotive and AutoForecast Solutions claiming the rest of the Regal lineup will be imported from Opel’s Rüsselsheim factory in Germany.

Long-standing production of the Regal for in North America is expected to end at GM’s Oshawa Car Assembly in Ontario this year. The plant is swapping production efforts to full-size trucks in 2018. The next-generation Regal is also likely the final Buick produced by Opel. General Motors agreed to sell the company, along with Vauxhall, to France’s PSA Group for $2.3 billion last week.

Opel’s updated Insignia will have optional all wheel drive with torque vectoring and an eight-speed transmission running gears for a 2.0-liter VVT turbocharged inline-four. While we don’t know what will make it to the Regal, none of that seems unreasonable in addition to a more-affordable FWD model.

The 2018 Buick Regal is slated to make its global debut on April 4th at General Motors’ Warren Technical Center in Metropolitan Detroit, followed by an appearance at the New York International Auto Show alongside the redesigned and better-selling Enclave crossover.

Originally appeared at The Truth About Cars

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4S-TURBO · 03-18-2017, 12:12 PM

That escalated quickly

mikaust · 03-18-2017, 01:22 PM

I will be 87 this year so I can finally buy a Buick.

DearDiaryJackpot · 03-18-2017, 01:28 PM

Another switch that no one ask for!

4S-TURBO · 03-18-2017, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DearDiaryJackpot

Another switch that no one ask for!

Regal deliveries dropped like a stone tied to a lead weight since it’s 2011 reintroduction, settling to the bottom at half that year’s annual sales almost immediately and staying there ever since. Considering U.S. sales of midsize sedans have also dwindled over the last couple of years, swapping to a different bodystyle is in the Regal’s best interest. At this point, it’s almost more surprising that GM didn’t just decide to make it into another crossover.

They sold 19k last year and the year before that. No one asks for a Buick Regal. I think their buying demographic is more like "how cheap can I get this car for," than "ooh I gotta get me that new Regal!" It's doubtful they will even sell 19k of these. I'll likely be one of the few die hards.

JustyWRC · 03-20-2017, 02:50 AM

It's almost like, "We don't sell enough of these; yet, it won't just die off. Lets make it a wagon built by a different brand to speed along it's demise".

KC · 03-20-2017, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustyWRC

It's almost like, "We don't sell enough of these; yet, it won't just die off. Lets make it a wagon built by a different brand to speed along it's demise".

There's a LOT of truth in that. Took a page out of Tom Dolls book....

Sell brand. Bring wagon for a year through agreements. Stop offering wagon.

"See?! Wagons are dead!"

--kC

SCRAPPYDO · 03-20-2017, 11:12 AM

I find it refreshing that my hate for GM never ceases to have reasons to continue to exist and remain on a slow boil.

E. Nick · 03-20-2017, 11:40 AM

GNX Wagon - ZL1 powertrain.

b4wantab · 03-20-2017, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by E. Nick

GNX Wagon - ZL1 powertrain.

Even a GN Stage I would work.

Peace,

Greg

Genericuser1 · 03-20-2017, 12:02 PM

The 400hp engine from Caddy would be more than enough for a GNX.

AVANTI R5 · 12-05-2019, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Is GM Mapping The End Of Buick In America?

General Motors has long had a love-hate relationship with many of its brands. All except Chevrolet. The company's latest move on Buick, the un-official car brand of denture adhesive buyers, could indicate the beginning of the end of the 115-year-old brand.

GM has confirmed that it will remove the Buick brand name from its cars, and rely instead on just the Tri-Shield logo. Buicks are sold today through a network of GMC-Buick dealerships. The first car to lose the brand name is the 2019 Envision SUV. Though I was unaware, Buick apparently does not put the Buick name on its cars in China either.

Slinking away from the Buick name speaks to the history of absurd ideas hatched by the marketing manager of the moment at Buick reading the latest focus group feedback. What surprises me about these schemes is that the CEO, in this case Mary Barra, lets one of her brands get away with such falderal.

Today In: Business
I began writing about GM’s Buick problem some 20 years ago, referring to it as “Fred Mertz’s Car of choice.” That is a reference to Lucy Ricardo’s next door neighbor in TV classic I Love Lucy. He was an old man, a curmudgeon, but kind of lovable and he had old-school tastes. It was 1955, and Fred had performed in Vaudeville.

Twenty years ago, the advertising for Buick was tortured and pathetic. I recall ads with talking cows, or was it singing cows? I remember ads featuring Tiger Woods who Buick had signed up as a pitch-man when he was a kid. Then, there was the ad campaign that centered on the late GM design chief Harley Earl, Earl himself played by an actor in the ads. But let's be clear, Harley Earl was long dead when he was hired from the grave to pitch Buicks. Oh, how the jokes flowed.

PROMOTED
It was all a giant stew of crazy. In more recent years, Buick has stabilized sales somewhat around 200,000 sales with sales of crossovers like the Enclave, Encore and now the Envision. The sedan lineup suffers from the growing lack of interest in sedans. And when you get into the buyer demographics of the Regal, LaCrosse and Cascada, well, the story quickly becomes one that involves pre-paid funerals.

Buick in the last 18 months, for example, has put the average age buyer of the LaCrosse sedan at 60. But survey data from AutoPacific and Strategic Vision has put it at closer to 70. That’s average! And that means a big chunk of buyers are around 80.

When GM went through bankruptcy a decade ago and euthanized Saturn, Pontiac, Saab and Hummer, the custodians also pressed the case to relegate Buick to the automotive graveyard along with Mercury, Plymouth, Hudson, Studebaker, AMC, LaSalle, etc. But they were deterred by a passionate case for Buick made by GM executives stating that if the brand were killed in the U.S., it would probably dramatically impact the brand’s bizarrely healthy business in China. That’s right. Buick sells more than 800,000 Buicks a year in China. In the U.S., Buick did about 220,000 last year.

But if Buicks can be sold in China without the name, why can't they be sold without also selling them in the U.S.?

The current Buick brands are pretty good across the board, especially the Enclave and the Envision crossovers. The Regal sedan is okay, but is lost in a sea of too many sedans.

Buick's efforts to modernize its models have gone reasonably well across the board. But brand matters. People have to want to wear your brand. "Despite introducing more contemporary products, the Buick name is still thought of as a brand for older folks," says Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at car-buying site KBB.com.

GM has been here before trying to apologize for its brands. In the late 1990s, GM had a Chairman of the Board named John Smale, a former CEO of Procter & Gamble, maker of Tide, Pringles, Ivory soap, etc.

Smale’s idea was to not advertise the brands at all. Advertise the car as Malibu, not the Chevy Malibu. Pitch the Regal, not the Buick Regal. And the Aurora, not the Oldsmobile Aurora. And in the case of the Aurora, the car was badged only as the Aurora, with Oldsmobile nowhere to be found on the car.

Oldsmobile was killed off, of course, in a press conference in late 2000. GM then had to spend a few billion dollars buying off Olds dealers for their franchises. GM management has no stomach for spending that kind of money again just to kill a brand, but it is difficult to not think that this is the first cut to Buick’s jugular in the U.S.

Buick: "We don't need no stinking badges."
Buick: "We don't need no stinking badges." WARNER BROS.
For now, Buick is saying that it “doesn't need no stinking Buick badges.” [That's a nod to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre] It will just carry the Tri-shield logo on the front grille or hood ornament and on the rear of the car. Buick spokesman Stuart Fowle says GM conducted research on recognition of the Tri-Shield at the start of 2017, and found that 73 percent of those surveyed connected the logo with Buick. Of course, those surveyed were ex GM workers, paid staff and residents of Michigan assisted living facilities.

Buick, I mean “Tri-Shield,” has in recent years spent millions on an aggressive program of sports sponsorships in the hopes of attracting younger male buyers to the brand. It even resorted to a campaign message of “That’s not a Buick” that included Super Bowl spots with Carolina Panther quarterback Cam Newton, and New York Giants wide-receiver Odell Beckham Jr. The idea was to communicate surprise and delight by pro athletes that the hip, cool car they were looking at couldn’t be Fred Mertz’s Buick. Genius! By the way, has anyone seen OBJ driving a Buick?

It could be that Buick, like Ford’s Lincoln brand, is just impervious to modernization, along with people who are trying to chart a comeback for rotary phones and Palm Pilots. Buick and Lincoln are pretty much the last brands standing that have no substantive sustainable appeal except to people born before 1940. And, when it comes to buying more new cars, those folks don’t have much of a future.

And neither does Buick or Lincoln, unless you are trying to sell them in Beijing.

12345

AVANTI R5 · 12-05-2019, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Buick to retire Regal in US, go all-in on SUVs

Crossovers already represent 90 percent of the brand's sales in its home market.

General Motors has decided to pull the Buick Regal from the US market at the end of the 2020 model year, ditching its last sedan as buyers continue to gravitate toward crossovers.

"Buick continues to be ahead of the consumer shift toward SUVs. In fact, nearly 90 percent of Buick sales to date this year have been crossovers," Buick/GMC communications manager Stuart Fowle told Motor Authority.

The company will continue to sell the Regal in China, where demand for sedans remains high and the Buick brand retains a particularly strong presence. GM sold more than a million Buick vehicles to Chinese buyers in 2018, far higher than the roughly 200,000 deliveries in the company's home market.

Despite a redesign for the 2018 model year, the Regal had continued to struggle in the US with sales projected to fall in 2019 from just 14,000 units delivered in 2018. In contrast, the company sold nearly 138,000 crossovers in the first three quarters of the year with the Encore accounting for nearly half the brand's total sales.

The Regal's departure follows the LaCrosse sedan and Cascadia convertible.

Masterauto · 12-05-2019, 10:55 AM

wagon fans this is big opportunity to own a nice looking wagon 15-20k off. Might talk my wife into one.

Pre · 12-05-2019, 11:26 AM

A full CUV/SUV lineup with nothing else offered? No wagon, no hatches, no sedans. Got damn what is the world coming to. First the Fat Boys break up, now this. Nothing to believe in anymore.

subyski · 12-05-2019, 12:47 PM

Can you blame them when 90% of their sales are crossovers? They tried to stimulate the brand in U.S. but really got nowhere. The brand only survived the old GM bankruptcy because of China. The brand really just has the Encore and Enclave that keeps them afloat in the U.S. The China built Envision sales continue to slide. Honestly, I keep forgetting about the TourX and the Regal GS was completely forgotten in my eyes. This brand is slowly going to the ways of Chrysler.

Dex · 12-05-2019, 02:55 PM

Whew, I was worried there for a minute, I was a concerned that there weren't enough SUVs and CUVs in our market. Good to know Buick has come to the rescue.

n7slc · 12-05-2019, 03:56 PM

I’m surprised Buck didn’t get orphaned back when Pontiac and Olds did.

Pre · 12-05-2019, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by subyski

Can you blame them when 90% of their sales are crossovers?

No. It was more a statement about people, not their brand. It's pathetic. These got damn CUV's (not talking about SUV's or 3 rows when you need them, all the small or compact ones, you know what I am talking about) offer no more room than a hatch or most of the time less, and don't even have the cargo room (hatch area) of a wagon. They also are more top heavy due to the higher roofline, our worse cog so worse handling, worse everything. It's just a crappier vehicle in general. A wagon looks better than a CUV by a country mile, handles better, and has more room. That's all my opinion by the way. I know most Muricans going through the drive thrus don't agree.

Muricans buying CUV's because of the driving position, and ingress/egress. My opinion only again, much of that is due to them being fatasses. When ingress/egress of a passenger car is too cumbersome, perhaps it's time to put the burger and sack down man and do some push ups or something, go for a run, or a bicycle ride. The elderly are the caveat but it's not just the elderly buying the things it's everybody. There is a guy at the gym, 50 year old Vietnamese guy. 7% body fat, ripped as all get out, all natural. Dude is a specimen in terms of how in shape a person can be. He was all happy one day about getting his new car. I asked what he bought and he said a Nissan Murano. I had to hold it back. He isn't married and doesn't have kids so it was the "style" he was after with the purchase, certainly not any sort of functionality. Muricans and their tastes I just shake my head. Whether it's CUV's, The Masked Singer or what, it's just

subyski · 12-05-2019, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by n7slc

I’m surprised Buck didn’t get orphaned back when Pontiac and Olds did.

It's because of China. The brand has huge equity there for some reason. In the U.S. it has the old man image, just like Olds did. But by that point, all GM did was burn money on badge engineer a vehicle and place it in every single brand they own with no identity. In many ways, they still do.

What is the point of Buick in the U.S.? Its brand equity is crap in the U.S. They tried to inject some fun and youth and fail every time. Honestly, they should keep Buick around for the Chinese market but kill it in the U.S. Use that U.S. Buick effort and money and put it into Cadillac and Chevrolet. Ford did it with Mercury and now Lincoln is showing signs of real life.

slimfit · 12-05-2019, 09:18 PM

Bringing an Opel to an American brand is the kiss of death. It was only a matter of time.

subyski · 12-06-2019, 01:02 AM

Opel based products were probably still better than what GM U.S. would have cranked out for Buick sedans.

KC · 12-06-2019, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Masterauto

wagon fans this is big opportunity to own a nice looking wagon 15-20k off. Might talk my wife into one.

As someone that had an '08 Pontiac G8GT, don't. Parts become unobtanium.

--kC

12-06-2019, 01:02 AM	#22
subyski Scooby Specialist Member#: 202642 Join Date: Nov 2007 Chapter/Region: RMIC Location: Centennial, Colorado Vehicle: 08 Impreza,80Vette 68 Impala, 15 SantaFe	Opel based products were probably still better than what GM U.S. would have cranked out for Buick sedans. Last edited by subyski; 12-06-2019 at 01:26 AM.

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03-18-2017, 12:12 PM	#2
4S-TURBO Scooby Specialist Member#: 67807 Join Date: Aug 2004 Chapter/Region: NWIC Location: ☜ Vehicle: .... Red Sedan White CUV Blue Wagon	That escalated quickly

03-18-2017, 01:22 PM	#3
mikaust Scooby Specialist Member#: 7468 Join Date: Jun 2001 Chapter/Region: MAIC Vehicle: 2008 Outback very limited	I will be 87 this year so I can finally buy a Buick.

03-18-2017, 01:28 PM	#4
DearDiaryJackpot Scooby Specialist Member#: 343041 Join Date: Jan 2013 Chapter/Region: South East Location: riverview Vehicle: 2013 sti white	Another switch that no one ask for!

03-20-2017, 02:50 AM	#6
JustyWRC Scooby Specialist Member#: 153088 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Arlington, TN Vehicle: 2005 Baja Turbo 06 Forester 18 Imp Sport	It's almost like, "We don't sell enough of these; yet, it won't just die off. Lets make it a wagon built by a different brand to speed along it's demise".

03-20-2017, 11:12 AM	#8
SCRAPPYDO Scooby Guru Member#: 873 Join Date: Feb 2000 Chapter/Region: TXIC Location: www.testdrivemylife.com Vehicle: 2020 Legacy / Ascent Datsun 71 240Z & 68 2000	I find it refreshing that my hate for GM never ceases to have reasons to continue to exist and remain on a slow boil.

03-20-2017, 11:40 AM	#9
E. Nick Scooby Specialist Member#: 8489 Join Date: Jul 2001 Chapter/Region: BAIC Location: Atherton, CA Vehicle: 2005 Carrera GT Guards	GNX Wagon - ZL1 powertrain.

03-20-2017, 12:02 PM	#11
Genericuser1 Scooby Specialist Member#: 378822 Join Date: Jan 2014 Vehicle: 2006 Mini Van Does it matter?	The 400hp engine from Caddy would be more than enough for a GNX.

12-05-2019, 10:55 AM	#14
Masterauto Scooby Specialist Member#: 198376 Join Date: Dec 2008 Chapter/Region: MAIC Location: Delaware Vehicle: 18 Alfa GiuliaTi S LOTUS Esprit ES, ML TDI	wagon fans this is big opportunity to own a nice looking wagon 15-20k off. Might talk my wife into one.

12-05-2019, 11:26 AM	#15
Pre Scooby Specialist Member#: 139693 Join Date: Feb 2007	A full CUV/SUV lineup with nothing else offered? No wagon, no hatches, no sedans. Got damn what is the world coming to. First the Fat Boys break up, now this. Nothing to believe in anymore.

12-05-2019, 12:47 PM	#16
subyski Scooby Specialist Member#: 202642 Join Date: Nov 2007 Chapter/Region: RMIC Location: Centennial, Colorado Vehicle: 08 Impreza,80Vette 68 Impala, 15 SantaFe	Can you blame them when 90% of their sales are crossovers? They tried to stimulate the brand in U.S. but really got nowhere. The brand only survived the old GM bankruptcy because of China. The brand really just has the Encore and Enclave that keeps them afloat in the U.S. The China built Envision sales continue to slide. Honestly, I keep forgetting about the TourX and the Regal GS was completely forgotten in my eyes. This brand is slowly going to the ways of Chrysler.

12-05-2019, 02:55 PM	#17
Dex Scooby Specialist Member#: 163775 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Getting schwifty Vehicle: 2014 Ford Fiester ST Murica Red	Whew, I was worried there for a minute, I was a concerned that there weren't enough SUVs and CUVs in our market. Good to know Buick has come to the rescue.

12-05-2019, 03:56 PM	#18
n7slc Scooby Newbie Member#: 443545 Join Date: Mar 2016 Chapter/Region: RMIC Location: SLC, Utah Vehicle: 2015 WRX Limited CVT Lightning Red	I’m surprised Buck didn’t get orphaned back when Pontiac and Olds did.

12-05-2019, 09:18 PM	#21
slimfit Scooby Newbie Member#: 90597 Join Date: Jul 2005 Chapter/Region: Tri-State Location: DELCO, PA Vehicle: 2011 WRX Premium SWP	Bringing an Opel to an American brand is the kiss of death. It was only a matter of time.