Posts Tagged ‘Acadia’

2011 Los Angeles Auto Show – Part 1

Posted: November 16, 2011 in Acura, Aston Martin, BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Car Shows, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, General Motors, GMC, Honda, Jeep, MINI, Ram
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Press preview days started on Wednesday 16 November 2011 and it was a busy time. First, there was a palpable level of optimism this year – more than there has been in the past three years. We all hope that the economy doesn’t do a double dip recession and that Europe’s euro doesn’t tank or disintegrate.

There are tons of new products, including promised electric vehicles and hybrids.  Internal combustion engines are going to be with us for a very long time, and in 2011, manufacturers are showing off the latest in fuel-saving technologies including direct injection, turbo-charging, 6- 8- and 9-speed automatic transmissions are here or coming to many different products.  Accessories like air conditioning are no longer run by a belt on the engine, they are powered by the car’s electrical system.  Same for power steering.  It’s a testament to modern automotive engineering that a large, heavy rear-drive sedan like the 2012 Dodge Charger is rated at the same 31 mpg highway as is the all-new 2012 Honda CR-V.

Part 1 is BMW Group through Honda/Acura. Enjoy!

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GM’s Back to Its Old Tricks

Posted: January 19, 2011 in Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, General Motors, GMC, Opel
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One would hope that after GM’s massive bankruptcy, something would have shaken GM’s  infamous entrenched bureaucracy and Byzantine divisional structure to its core.  Once Saturn, Pontiac and Oldsmobile were vanquished to history’s dustbin, only Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC remained.  The old practice of taking a Chevy and cloning its products upstream to every division was supposed to be dead, right?  Not so much.

For as long as I can remember, GMC has had no unique products, but the premium GM gets for dressing up Chevy trucks is so seductive that it couldn’t give up that profit center. Okay, I get it, but I think GMC could have been jettisoned and a new sub-brand of Chevrolet could be created to sell Chevy trucks that look better and are laden with luxury.  My idea was to have the Black Tie division or sub-brand. It would be instantly recognizable as a Chevy and the Black Bow Tie on the grill would be prestigious.  That way, you didn’t have to feed a completely separate division and you could keep the profits within Chevrolet. No such luck. We are stuck with GMC.

Buick was supposed to be different. It was going to get some rebadged Opels, and that’s what you have with the LaCrosse and Regal – both based on the Opel Insignia platform. Sure the Enclave is just a Chevy Traverse or GMC Acadia, but that comes from the “old GM” where each division got a cloned Chevy.

I guess the temptation to fall back into its old ways was too much when the Chevy Cruze was introduced.  Chevy  uses the Cruze platform for the Volt and the Cruze is a world car sold in many markets outside the U.S.  The use of a world platform drives the costs down to the point were GM can build the Cruze in the US (Lordstown, OH) and still make money.

The car of no one's dreams: The Cadillac Cimmaron

A Chevy Cavalier: Looks a bit too much like that Cadillac, huh?

Enter the Buick Verano: A rebadged Chevy Cruze with some cheap-looking fake wood accents and a few more luxury appointments. What next? A modern Cadillac Cimmaron?  See if you see any family resemblances….

2012 Buick Verano: Front

2011 Chevy Cruze: Front

2012 Buick Verano: Rear

2011 Chevy Cruze: Rear

2012 Buick Verano: Cockpit

2011 Chevy Cruze: Cockpit

Sure, there are some subtle differences, but it all looks just a bit too familiar.  The Verano is better than other GM rebadged products in that the cockpit shows some different fascia and the door armrests are reshaped, but the size and look is still Chevrolet, in my humble opinion.  The exterior is also familiar in overall dimension, including the door cutouts and roof slant. The Buick gets a Buick grille and distinctive taillights. Whoop de doo.

GM is crowing about Buick’s sales renaissance; but when you start with such a low bar, it’s not hard to have double digit (55%) increases.  From my point of view in LA, Buick isn’t finding younger buyers; its finding its place in the rental fleets again. Hell, it’s hard to even find a Buick dealer in town.  The Santa Monica GM dealer now appears to share space with Santa Monica Infiniti!  This was a tiny dealership to begin with, so I don’t know how that’s going to work.  The  times I’ve gone there to  look at new models, they haven’t had any inventory.

Buick just doesn’t seem to have any traction in the LA market.  I doubt the Verano is going to help. I see a rental car fleet in its future.