Reinventing a Reputation: Buick’s New Look

The 1970 Buick Skylark (above) in
comparison to the 1970 Chevy Chevelle
(below).

When you here the brand name Buick, the first thing that comes to mind is most likely the image of an elderly person driving a car 25 feet long in the slow lane. For years, Buick has suffered the stigma that their cars are built to cater mostly to a more “mature” crowd. However, this was not always the case. Up until about the 1980’s, Buick was considered a high performance car company competing with the likes of the Chevrolet Chevelle, Ford Mustang and Dodge Charger. They even were part of the original muscle car movement on the 1950’s. Buick released cars such as the Roadmaster and Riviera with the General Motors big block V8 engine. Their cars competed with cars such as the legendary Oldsmobile 88 and the Ford Fairlane. The Buick brand was such a powerhouse at the time that their cars were even featured in the first Nascar races.  The Buick muscle car line was marketed as the “gentleman’s muscle car” and sold in vast quantities due to their superior quality to Chevrolet, and affordability in comparison to Lincoln and Cadillac. With this superior reputation it begs the question “What the hell happened to Buick?!”. Well to be frank, the 1980’s was the nail in the coffin of the muscle car era with increased prices on gas as well as increased regulations from the government due to environmental concerns. By no means am I saying that the environmental regulations established by the government are bad, but they made the cars of the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s ugly, slow and overall unsatisfying to drive. That is where the stigma of the “old person” Buick originated. Now that we are in the second decade of the 21

The Buick Lesabre from the "Old Person" Buick era.

The new 2018 Buick luxury lineup.

Around 2010, the Buick motor company began to slowly revamp its product line towards a more sporty and sleek crowd. Their cars began to boast new features such as Bluetooth connectivity, adaptive cruise control, heads up display and all of the other cutting edge technology that is offered by General Motors. Their cars have also begun to cater more toward a younger crowd that wants all of the goodies of a luxury car with the performance of a sports car. Their flagship sedan the Lacrosse boasts the high output v6 engine that is put in the base model Camaro to output over 300 horsepower, and propel the two ton sedan from zero to sixty miles an hour in under seven seconds. However, their sportiest additions to their lineup include the reintroduction of the Regal GS as well as a small sports convertible called the Cascada. All of their vehicles now boast a sculpted and leather trimmed interior that was once only seen in high end cars such as BMW and Mercedes. LED accents, heated and ventilated seats, panoramic sunroofs, and tons of chrome accents are also standard on all Buick cars. With this new hard-hitting lineup, the company needed an equally compelling advertising campaign to get the public’s attention. The company decided the best way was embracing the joke that had been made at their expense for decades. They took the “Buicks are for old people” ball and ran with it! Releasing a line of commercials featuring young actors driving the bright new product line, and interacting with senior citizens who exclaimed “THAT’S NOT A BUICK!” as they were ushered towards the vehicles. The ad may have seemed silly at the time, but it worked in terms of getting Buick’s new look into the heads of the public. As a Buick driver, I can personally attest that even after four years that people still come up to my car and exclaim “THAT’S NOT A BUICK!”. It was a silly ad, but it did its job. Buick has since climbed to become a popular brand amongst young consumers, selling in higher numbers than they have in years. With Buick’s increased sales, they have also been tweaking and redesigning their vehicles more often to make them more sleek and appealing to upcoming generations. It will be interesting to see how long this comeback lasts for the company, as well as what they will do with their regained popularity.