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That's not a Buick!
10 years ago
So these new Buick commercials I have seen for the last couple years really confuse me. Surely the executives that run GM know its history of great cars.
The Roadmaster, Regal, Lesabre, GSX, GNX, Riviera... Need I say more? I've owned a pair of Buick's in my time. A 1975 Electra 225 and an 88 Skyhawk and loved driving both of them. So wise up GM execs, Buick has a history of great cars that needs to be told and revived. Not forgotten by a commercial that makes the company look like it only made trash and old couple cars.
The Roadmaster, Regal, Lesabre, GSX, GNX, Riviera... Need I say more? I've owned a pair of Buick's in my time. A 1975 Electra 225 and an 88 Skyhawk and loved driving both of them. So wise up GM execs, Buick has a history of great cars that needs to be told and revived. Not forgotten by a commercial that makes the company look like it only made trash and old couple cars.
As much as I enjoy the big old Roadmosters and everything else, when I saw the first new Lacrosse teaser at my dealership I said the same thing: "I can't believe that's a Buick!" I was the youngest observer that day, everyone else were grampas and grammas, and several of them were taking photos of the first totally-new Buick in decades. Change happens baby. Get used to it.
The days of Old Big are gone. They are not coming back. Buick and Caddy are working to revive a more American full-sized car (google Avenir and CT6). But here: this link goes to something I found recently that might help you;
http://allamericanclassiccars.blogspot.com/
That being said, I'd buy a new Regal in a heartbeat. It's a great car.
Unfortunately Americans have a habit of not letting stereotypes die off. Just look at stationwagons, even though they were replaced by minivans as "mom cars" they have never lost that "mom car" stereotype, no matter how awesome or practical they are (cargo space of an SUV with the handling of a car)
For Buick and Lincoln, they have been seen as "old people cars" for so long that they will likely never shake that stereotype. No one seems to think of Buick before the mid 1970s. Show someone a 58 special, or a boattail Rivera, Even the Grand National, or GS and they likely won't even know it's a Buick unless you tell them it is. To a non-car person, and even some car people, you mention Buick and the first thing that comes to mind is a mobility scooter on the back and an old hunch-backed, liver-spotted, bald-ass, grandpa taking 8 minutes just to get in or out of the damn car.
Caddy has some amazing cars like the CTS-V wagon and all manner of stealth bomber inspired design but they just don't sell well because of that "old person" stereotype still hanging on, it doesn't matter if they can beat the piss out of the Germans at the Nürburgring. But Caddies still have one thing going for them that is a good stereotype, they are "Classy as Hell"... Black tie all the way. And still a status symbol.
Likely what will happen is Buick will not be around much longer. Every time a company has to point out "Hey we really aren't that thing we used to be anymore, see?!? Look how hip and young and edgy and other uninformed focus-grouped buzzwords we are now!" They don't last too long after that.
It's possible to change buyer perception. I think Buick's on solid footing, much more so than Oldsmobile ever was during their 1990s rebrand.
Caddy survived because they were seen as high-class more than they were seen as grandpa cars, and the basic V6 models are far outselling the performance models.
It is possible to change buyer perception over a long period of time, but abruptly doesn't work, especially when the company doing it seems desperate.
My pops still has a stink-bugged 1994 Buick Roadmaster Estate 9-passenger wagon with 300,000 original miles on the original engine, still has the shitty plastic wood on the side and I fuggin' love that car and would Borrow it whenever my Volkswagen exploded... But I'm into weird cars like that. The current bland Opel Buicks, I guess are alright for the "meh" type people out there, but unless they bring back the style and or performance that would make them stand out again.
Buick I give about 5-10 years at the most... More likely less. They already got rid of Saturn and Pontiac, so nothing is sacred to General-Bailout-Motors.
They would likely be better off just calling them Opels like they actually are and going for entry level luxury like usual for modern Buicks have while avoiding the slow decline, and just dropping the Buick name to attract new buyers that don't want to hear all the "you drive a grandpa car" jokes that date back to the 1970s... They would need to advertise Buicks as hip-young-edgy cars for 10-20 years before the stereotype "might" die out.
Saturn was doomed after they folded into the rest of GM with Oldsmobile's demise. And I say that as a happy Saturn owner. They eliminated everything that made it distinct. As for phasing out multiple marques within the brand, I completely understand their thinking there. You had cars like the Pontiac G8 that were stealing sales from other cars within GM, and they couldn't just blanket give it to everyone or risk badge engineering criticism, or you got awkward things like the G6/Aura/Malibu where each car had some good features but no car had all of them. Buick was also always a more prestigious name than either Pontiac or relative-newbie Saturn, so it would be easier to transition it to target Lexus and Acura than it would be to try and move the others upmarket. Its buyers were going to die out anyway, so they're at least trying to give it some new energy.
As for "meh" type people... remember how many Camrys are sold. "Meh" is a big and viable market.