Of General Motors' remaining brands, Buick’s position in the corporate firmament is still the most cloudy.
Chevrolet is mass-market, salt-of-the-earth -- the purveyor of pickups, sedans for soccer moms and dads, and maybe (if all goes well) successful small cars and plug-in hybrids. Cadillac is luxury and high-performance in an edgy, yet all-American, wrapper.
As for Buick, the brand finds itself in the tricky middle. The brand is charged with delivering “premium” cars that aren’t as luxurious or high-performance (read: pricey) as Cadillacs, but that still feel relatively posh, quiet and relaxing to drive. Buick is tossing the Lexus name around as what it's after with cars like the solid new LaCrosse, though I suspect that it's attempting to punch well above its weight with that one. I suspect that brands like Toyota, Ford, Chrysler and maybe Volvo or Volkswagen are more in Buick’s league. That’s been borne out by news that many more LaCrosse intenders are cross-shopping the Ford Taurus than they are the Lexus ES 350.
Buick willingly acknowledges that the vast majority of Lexus buyers don’t have Buick on their shopping radar. When your brand name has all the cultural resonance of a Westinghouse or Woolworth's, that's going to be the case. But if you are thinking ES 350, the LaCrosse, believe it or not, is a persuasive rival. The Buick handles better, has far more curb appeal and seems every bit as quiet inside. The interior is notably well-designed and well-crafted, though the pricier Lexus remains more luxurious and better-finished inside. And the optional V6 engine in the top-shelf LaCrosse models -- a 3.6-liter V6 with direct injection and 280 horsepower -- is every bit the equal of the Lexus’ V6.
The “new” Buick, of course, wants desperately to loofah the wrinkles from its stodgy image, a must if it's going to expand its appeal beyond Detroit loyalists and Fort Myers, Fla., retirees.
The Enclave crossover was a good first step: Buick says the average Enclave buyer is in his 50s, as opposed to the over-70 demographic that’s been the median for the brand at large. Next year, a reborn Buick Regal, a rebadged version of the acclaimed Opel Insignia from GM’s European division, will offer 4-cylinder fuel economy and maybe even snare a few 40-something buyers.
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