Buick executives freely admit that Buick has suffered from a "lack of relevance" in recent years, but emphasize that Buick quality is among the best of the industry.

"Buick is not where we want it to be... it's fair to say that we didn't always nurture the brand," GM Vice Chairman of Product Development Robert A. Lutz confesses at New York 2004, discussing the need for "power; speed, and grace" to return to Buick's vocabulary.

In August 2009, General Motors abruptly cancelled its entry-level Buick crossover program, which was to have rebadged the Saturn Vue, thus offering Buick's first hybrid. Michelle Bunker, Buick Communications Manager, explained that initial feedback from media, employees, and dealerships alike was almost universally negative; the product did seem to fit the direction in which GM was reputedly taking the Buick brand.

However, there will be an entry-level Buick crossover of some sort, slotting in under the Enclave and following the launch of the 2011 Regal.

There'll be a Chevrolet Cruze-sized sedan by 2012, too.

And John Cafaro, director of design for Buick and Chevrolet, thinks that the Tri-Shield could use a coupe, to signifiy its new, more youthful image.

"I'm a zealot," says Cafaro. "My role is to get Buick more youthful, more spirited... and to probe ideas for coupes, and more expressive vehicles."

Cafaro also insists that Buick needs more products to be competitive.


In 2002, General Motors begins grouping its Buick; Pontiac, and GMC dealers into one distribution channel. By July 2008, 1,600 dealers aligned with the Buick-Pontiac-GMC channel account for approximately 80% of the sales from the trio of GM nameplates. GM says that the channel allows the automaker to optimize each brand by developing distinct and complementary vehicles that reduce overlap.


In the second quarter of 2007, GM sells almost 75,000 Buicks in China, nearly 25,000 more than it sells in the U.S.


At New York 2004, Buick talks of a rebirth. Recalling the industry's first concept - the Buick Y-Job of the '30s - the Buick Velite Concept is presented at the show as "a vision of what we want Buick to be, in a single piece of design and engineering."

Velite heralds, says Buick, a $3.3 billion investment in the brand through 2008.

Though Velite does not materialize, its graceful curves and glittering jewelry make their way to the 2008 Enclave crossover.


AMC sells the tooling for Buick's 90-degree V6 back to Buick in early 1974. "It's a 90-degree vee," says Gerry Meyers of AMC, explaning the sale.

"It was too rough-running. It took a GM to pull it together" (Motor Trend, February 1975).

The turn of the Eighties mark major changes for Buick. In April 1980, the division builds its last proprietary V8 engine. By the end of the year, it has dropped its 1^st-generation, rear-wheel-drive Skyhawk, in favor of added Skylark production. The front-wheel-drive Skylark, Buick's take on GM's midsize, corporate X-car, is in demand.

At the same time as it introduces front-wheel-drive models, touting greater fuel efficiency, Buick begins returning to more overt expressions of performance, with T-Type and turbocharged models.