Repost from the Chicago Tribune
Buick Enclave brings cooler, younger vibe
Published June 26, 2007
They're ice skating in Hades!
Yup.
Double lutzes and triple salchows.
Word is out that people are waiting in line to get their hands on a Buick, and that can only mean only one thing: **** has frozen over.
People have waited in line to get a Pontiac Solstice or a Saturn Sky roadster, but to get their hands on a Buick? And it's not a roadster or a convertible but a crossover named Enclave, a sport-ute/mini-van substitute.
But unless it comes with Tiger Woods behind the wheel asking "Where to?" it's hard to fathom folks fawning over a Buick.
"There's 1,300 people who paid their money and are on a waiting list to take delivery but won't get their car until August or September," said Lloyd Biermann, Enclave marketing manager. "It's been a while since we had a waiting list." Buick is 104 years old and, if memory serves, that means the last time there was a wait for a Buick was 105 years ago.
Enclave went on sale at the end of April and in little over a month Buick took 13,000 orders. Biermann won't say how many it expects to build.
Enclave also has the fastest turn rate at GM. From the time the delivery truck drops it at the dealership until a customer picks it up, the crossover spends only five days on the ground.
One of those waiting is Ed Mertz, 70, who retired as general manager of Buick in 1997, which is perhaps fitting considering that Buick has long been criticized for having the oldest buyers in the market, with an average age of 64. The long-standing joke is that those who buy Buicks hand over a Social Security check as the deposit.
Yet some attracted to Enclave are "kids" -- at least in Buick years.
"We've had buyers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s," said Katherine Benoit, executive director of GM's Buick-Pontiac-GMC division. "That doesn't mean the average age is going to be in the 30s or 40s since not many at that age can afford a $30,000-plus vehicle, but it does mean it's attracting younger buyers and has the potential to lower our average buyer age."
If a midsize $30,000-plus Enclave is doing well, what about reports that a smaller, lower-priced crossover is in the works to attract more of the younger, less affluents?
"Not aware of it," Benoit said,.
GM has been working on a revival of Saturn and Buick. It started with a wealth of new offerings for Saturn, while Buick has dropped more models than it has added in the last few years. Regal, Century, Park Avenue, LeSabre, Rendezvous, Rainier and Terraza all vanished, leaving only LaCrosse, Lucerne and now Enclave.
"We call this year our breakout year, because we have six new vehicles coming for a new image," Benoit said.
Besides Enclave, the six include a modest redesign of LaCrosse along with high-performance editions of LaCrosse and Lucerne this fall for the U.S. market, so while new additions to the lineup, it still leaves Buick with only three nameplates.
Outside the U.S., it is touting a pair of popular nameplates. A new full-size, rear-wheel-drive Park Avenue sedan and a midsize, rear-wheel-drive, gullwing Riviera concept coupe have been unveiled in China.
"We hope to see the Riviera, the concept that is, within a year in the U.S. at an auto show," said Benoit, adding that Buick has "no plans to announce production" of the Riviera or Park Avenue for the U.S. But being able to share the same cars in the U.S. and China "would be a great thing to be able to do," she continued.
Adding to the appeal is that Buick sold considerably more cars in China last year than it did in the U.S. -- 304,000 to 240,000.
Benoit, however, doesn't see Buick's greater popularity in China than in the U.S. a problem.
"We look at it as after 100 years in the market Buick now has become an international brand," she said.
Buick Enclave brings cooler, younger vibe
Published June 26, 2007
They're ice skating in Hades!
Yup.
Double lutzes and triple salchows.
Word is out that people are waiting in line to get their hands on a Buick, and that can only mean only one thing: **** has frozen over.
People have waited in line to get a Pontiac Solstice or a Saturn Sky roadster, but to get their hands on a Buick? And it's not a roadster or a convertible but a crossover named Enclave, a sport-ute/mini-van substitute.
But unless it comes with Tiger Woods behind the wheel asking "Where to?" it's hard to fathom folks fawning over a Buick.
"There's 1,300 people who paid their money and are on a waiting list to take delivery but won't get their car until August or September," said Lloyd Biermann, Enclave marketing manager. "It's been a while since we had a waiting list." Buick is 104 years old and, if memory serves, that means the last time there was a wait for a Buick was 105 years ago.
Enclave went on sale at the end of April and in little over a month Buick took 13,000 orders. Biermann won't say how many it expects to build.
Enclave also has the fastest turn rate at GM. From the time the delivery truck drops it at the dealership until a customer picks it up, the crossover spends only five days on the ground.
One of those waiting is Ed Mertz, 70, who retired as general manager of Buick in 1997, which is perhaps fitting considering that Buick has long been criticized for having the oldest buyers in the market, with an average age of 64. The long-standing joke is that those who buy Buicks hand over a Social Security check as the deposit.
Yet some attracted to Enclave are "kids" -- at least in Buick years.
"We've had buyers in their 20s, 30s, and 40s," said Katherine Benoit, executive director of GM's Buick-Pontiac-GMC division. "That doesn't mean the average age is going to be in the 30s or 40s since not many at that age can afford a $30,000-plus vehicle, but it does mean it's attracting younger buyers and has the potential to lower our average buyer age."
If a midsize $30,000-plus Enclave is doing well, what about reports that a smaller, lower-priced crossover is in the works to attract more of the younger, less affluents?
"Not aware of it," Benoit said,.
GM has been working on a revival of Saturn and Buick. It started with a wealth of new offerings for Saturn, while Buick has dropped more models than it has added in the last few years. Regal, Century, Park Avenue, LeSabre, Rendezvous, Rainier and Terraza all vanished, leaving only LaCrosse, Lucerne and now Enclave.
"We call this year our breakout year, because we have six new vehicles coming for a new image," Benoit said.
Besides Enclave, the six include a modest redesign of LaCrosse along with high-performance editions of LaCrosse and Lucerne this fall for the U.S. market, so while new additions to the lineup, it still leaves Buick with only three nameplates.
Outside the U.S., it is touting a pair of popular nameplates. A new full-size, rear-wheel-drive Park Avenue sedan and a midsize, rear-wheel-drive, gullwing Riviera concept coupe have been unveiled in China.
"We hope to see the Riviera, the concept that is, within a year in the U.S. at an auto show," said Benoit, adding that Buick has "no plans to announce production" of the Riviera or Park Avenue for the U.S. But being able to share the same cars in the U.S. and China "would be a great thing to be able to do," she continued.
Adding to the appeal is that Buick sold considerably more cars in China last year than it did in the U.S. -- 304,000 to 240,000.
Benoit, however, doesn't see Buick's greater popularity in China than in the U.S. a problem.
"We look at it as after 100 years in the market Buick now has become an international brand," she said.
