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Heck, my going-on-thirteen-years-old Park Ave has that! :P
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
The Regal has been a placeholder while the general realignment of Buick has been occurring. The lower performance engine is there in a cheaper to build model to give a low price for the Buick Division for entry buyers.
Now that Verano has taken the place as a lower cost Buick, the accoutrements of the Regal will move upscale such as no cloth seat version and move to better powered models other than a tip-of-the-hat to the electric motor assist model which will be priced equal the turbo model.
The glass is half full.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I did think it was referring to the US until I read more posts and then re-checked the URL. I was a bit surprised that JD Power serves the UK as well as the states, given that they are a US-based research firm.
...and just like cars, its all about the looks and bodies!
I don't get Buick, either (at least in the US market).
Plenty of companies that are large (Toyota?) get away with 2 divisions, or 3 max. While GM has improved (dumping Saturn, Hummer, Olds, and Pontiac) - what exactly are the differentiators for GMC, Chevy, and Buick? Caddy I understand. Chevy I sort of understand. GMC and Buick I don't understand at all.
Let's not forget the output!...
I don't know if that's a good idea or not. Many dealers survive without a truck lineup. My local MB/Volvo, and BMW dealers don't sell trucks. Neither does my local Honda or Subaru dealer.
Granted, the GMC brand does seem to work and I certainly prefer the styling of a Sierra over a Silverado.
As for Buick, I don't have a clue. Honestly, the bankruptcy probably has hamstrung GM more than most of us realize. Development pretty much stopped on several projects.
While GM is doing well with what they have, they are behind in some key areas.
Powertrain developement is way behind outside of the Volt. Just look at what Ford has put out since 2010 and you can see GM hasn't been able to keep up.
They were $10 in NYC. I never smoked but heard a guy whining (duh - quit!).
I also felt like that comparison was ridiculous. You could get a G37 for a lot less than that 328, yet they tested base engines so it was a G25.
I drove a 328 yesterday and the start/stop on it is so bad it's the type of thing you do write home about. It feels like an earth quake every time it operates. Horrible.
On 4-cylinder Buicks. This apparently is the trend. Even higher end German makers such as Mercedes and BMW will be making more of their models with 4-cylinders. That is OK if priced appropriately, no more than 20's. But, BMW making some 4-cylinders that could be priced into high 30's, 40's. Who would buy a 4-cylinder BMW with msrp in the 40's?
When you try to build a luxury fuel sipper that is also fast, the results are mixed at best.
Fortunately, it can easily be switched off.
The glass is half full.
That is the continuing GM story. Still behind, as usual.
Regards,
OW
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/06/06/watch-gm-engineers-cadillac-cts-v-wagon-blow-- its-airbag-during/
That's not the first....
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/08/14/camaro-airbag-spontaneously-deploys-while-dri- fting/
Maybe they need a track mode to disable the sensors or something. Both were with high lateral loads.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
It's the car's way of saying "drifting is the synchronized swimming of motorsports".
No, it's just that the GM vehicles handle so well and the tires are so grippy that the lateral acceleration is similar to having a side impact. So the airbags inflate, even without a collision. :P
Once you turn off the start/stop function, it's a nice riding car.
http://recallpost.com/2012/06/2006-08-kia-rio-sedans-recalled-as-a-result-of-fro- - nt-air-bag-sensor-problems/
Airbag seat sensors that crack and won't work.
Both of these sound like cost-cutting to the maximum and minimization of the quality of major, important things in the cars. Outrageous.
Makes me wonder where else they have cut costs and materials in a dangerous way.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Cost cutting isn't anything new.
Ask former Pinto and Vega owners.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Here's a current one from a "featured" company that recently went belly up.
No excuses for Kia or GM. Failure is failure.
Improper(CHEAP) Air Bag Sensor - Nov 2011
Regards,
OW
YTD 2012 Buick Verano Sales = 11,578 (2,300/month avg.) Projected sales for 2012 = 30,000
2011 Regal Sales = 40,144
2012 Regal YTD Sales = 12,502 (2,500/month Avg.)
Projected 2012 sales = 30,012 or a 25% sales drop! Looks like Buick is competing against itself!
Only GM can call that a success!
Acura TSX 2011 Sales = 30,935
Acura TSX 2012 YTD Sales = 15,012 (3,002/month Average)
Projected 2012 Sales = 36,000
BMW 3-Series 2011 Sales = 94,371
BMW 3-Series 2012 YTD Sales = 40,022 (8,000/month Avg.)
Projected 2012 Sales = 96,000
Infiniti G 2011 Sales = 58,246
Infinit G 2012 YTD Sales = 23,473 (4,695/month Avg.)
Projected 2012 Sales = 56,338
Acura, Infiniti or BMW need not worry about the Regal in the least.
Regards,
OW
Here's another , much more recent example. Chrysler calls it "weight reduction", but we a ll know its "costs" reduction.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2012/0521/Jeep-Wranglers-recalled-for-- potential-fire-hazard
BMW got snagged recently with bad battery cables. As I said, they all do it.
1 or 2 dollars per car isn't much, until you are looking at runs in the hundreds of thousands. It's hard to resist saving a couple million $$$ here and there.
All manufacturers do it, all the time. Sometimes they get lucky, sometimes not.
Sounds like 'old Kia' to me.
Still wish GM wouldn't have exported G8's from Australia but would've built them here, for a number of common-sense reasons.
My 2011 Regal Turbo is a great car. Not one issue in a year. Plenty of punch, handles great, all in all a winner. People need to get past their incorrect perceptions of Buick once and for all. All they need to do is drive them to realize they are building great cars.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I'm curious to see if, on a full charge, the car can make the round trip from the dealership to her work, then home, and back to the dealership.... All on battery. The terrain is, for the most part, fairly level with a few gentle hills.... No significant inclines or declines.
If it does, there is good chance there is a Volt in our future...
I still believe Buick should have been rolled into Caddy. It is a 'tweener division at best.
Your Regal should be an entry level Cadillac. Actually, the new ATS is going to compete even more with Regal Turbo. Why buy a Regal when for $2K more you get Caddy? The only thing missing is Olds and Pontiac but it's an old story.
Point being it's hard to change some things at GM even today.
Regards,
OW
Toyota is facing similar issues among Toyota, Scion and Lexus. Chrysler has Fiat, Dodge, and Chrysler. Ford killed Mercury because they didn't know what it meant and is trying to cover the range with 2 brands now. Hyundai is trying to cover the entire span of the market with one brand. Who's correct? Nobody can say.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
As new product is situated into the slots in the market, changes will be made to adjust the margins. The glass is 2/3 full.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
My perceptions on the subject are probably old fashioned by now, but I think the Regal is too "cheap" to be a Cadillac. It starts around $27,000, and IMO, that's just too down-market for what a Cadillac should be.
Plus, no matter how nice it might be, I'm just not comfortable with the idea of a 4-cyl Caddy.
If not, time to rethink.
Regards,
OW
I'm with Andre that the Regal would be too cheap to be a Cadillac. I think they got the cutting of divisions as close to right as could be done given how quickly the had to do it.
YTD May is tracking 9% below 2011 @ 71,300, however, in a growing market with new products. So sales have peaked since the bankruptcy and are in decline says change something.
Agree they had little time to cut to the most advantageous product mix but old GM is still alive and well with 4 Divisions. More merging is required, IMO.
Agree Regal is a great product but the Verano (upscale Cruze) will only go so far and Regal sales fall further indicates car sales at Buick aren't going to grow anytime soon. Perhaps when new models are introduced and existing ones improved.
Regards,
OW
In 1995, for example, Buick still had a broad range of cars. Here's how their breakdown was, according to my Consumer Guide auto encyclopedia...
Skylark: 53,860 sold (by this time, mainly a rental car queen most likely)
Century: 113,699 (again, lots of rentals, but older people on a budget tended to like these. And to be fair, they were a nicely trimmed car for not a lot of money)
Regal: 100,169 sold (I suspect a lot of these went into rental fleets as well, but they also appealed to a buyer who was a bit younger, and a bit more moneyed than the typical Century buyer)
LeSabre: 171,783 (good, well-rounded car. Plenty of the cheaper Custom models no doubt went to rental fleets, and sure, plenty of old people bought them, but it was also a great choice for someone who wanted a nicely decked out full-sized car)
Park Ave: 62,994 sold (probably a few rentals, but with a base price of $28,244, hardly a cheap car. Good choice for those wanting a luxurious car without the flash of a Caddy, and decently quick with the supercharged engine)
Roadmaster: 30,508 (a throwback for Buick fans who missed their old Deuce-and-a-quarter)
Riviera: 41,442 (to fully disclose, an extra-long model year. There was no 1994 Riv, and I remember seeing these in the showrooms in the summer of '94. A few were probably rentals, but most were probably bought by the Buick faithful.)
As the years went on though, Buick started paring back a bit. Some models, like the Roadmaster, Riviera, and Park Ave, dropped off due to lack of interest. At the low end, the Skylark was dropped. The few retail buyers probably moved up to the Century, while rental fleets were satisfied with the Alero, Grand Am, and newly-revived Malibu.
As the years went by, the LeSabre and Century were increasingly dependent on fleet/rental sales, and the Regal fell from favor. And the Regal itself wasn't immune from the rental fleets. My Dad's '03 Regal is a former rental.
Buick killed two possums with one rock with the 2005 LaCrosse, as it took out both the Century and Regal. And while many LaCrosses no doubt went into fleets, the volume was much less than the Century/Regal had been. I'm pretty sure by this time, the Grand Prix and Impala were picking up most of the need for this type of car in rental fleets and such. So while fewer LaCrosses were sold than Centurys and Regals, they probably saw a greater profit per car.
In a similar fashion, the Lucerne took over for both the LeSabre/Park Ave, and again, it was less dependent on fleet sales than the LeSabre had been. In this case though, demand for large-ish cars in general was drying up. Witness the demise of the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis/Town Car, and the lackluster performance of the 500/Montego and Taurus/Mark-S-or-whatever replacements. Seems like only Chrysler is having some degree of success anymore in this field with the Charger/300.
Nowadays, Buick doesn't flood the rental/fleet markets like they used to, and they've also eliminated some of their models that had been at the extremes (Skylark and Century on the low end, Roadmaster, Park Ave, and Riviera at the top), so I'd expect their sales to drop somewhat. But they've also expanded into SUVs...first with the Rendezvous and Rainier, and now with the Enclave.
But, to see them drop from 500K plus (back in the 1970's and 1980's they hit 800-900K a few times) to only 100K by 2009, is pretty scary!
Buick currently doesn't have anything that really gets me excited, but I do hope they stick around. And heck, maybe I should go check out the Regal, to see if it's something I'd be interested in.
It's a strange no world when Buick seems to make the right moves these days while Honda has lost as much as a clue....
Regards,
OW
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
If not, Buick need not exist in the USA and stay in China where it is popular and profitable. Remember, GM wants Caddy global as well so in the future, extra divisions really aren't necessary anywhere in the world. Caddy is no more a "world standard" than Buick is at the moment.
Buick is a dying brand here based on sales alone. GM was smart expanding offshore for now.
Regards,
OW