Buick to court hip-hop dollar?
Dr. Dre is over 40 years old. Grandmaster Flash? Knockin' on the big 5-0 (and we're not talking about the police,
yo). So... what's an aging rapper to drive when arthritis rules out high-riding Escalades and Hummer H2s? Chrysler 300?
Been there, DUBbed that.
So perhaps the next logical step is a blinged-out version of Buick's LaCrosse. The version seen here has been given the full rap star treatment, lowered and rollin' on 22" chromies, tinted windows and taillamp lenses, plenty of ICE and a reworked leather and suede interior. The sedan seen here will make the scene in 16 major markets on the DUB tour.
[Source: Edmunds Inside Line and Buick]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jason Boston 10:15AM (4/10/2006)
Sweet and sinister!
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doug 10:22AM (4/10/2006)
It's interesting to see the aftermarket take on America's newest luxury sedans. For the Buick, they went the "bling" route. Look at what others have done with the Zephyr over at Blueovalnews. They went the tuner route. So far, the Lucerne is outselling the Zephyr.
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Lance T 10:31AM (4/10/2006)
I have to admit. It looks good. People are always trying to be different and go for the look that they think no one else has. I think it could work.
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used car Parts 10:31AM (4/10/2006)
I love this car for some strange reason, it looks great and the specs and feature are an added bonus. I want one when im 90. lol
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Presto 10:32AM (4/10/2006)
Looks very nice.
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Jumper 10:33AM (4/10/2006)
Very nice, if you remember back in the early 70's the Buick Duece and a Quarter was the shizzle. Maybe they can bring the magic back to the brand.
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Juan 11:08AM (4/10/2006)
The interior looks terrible, and the Crutchfield-esque install job on the new head unit looks cheap.
The exterior looks pretty good, especially the tinted tail lights. I would have gone with different rims, but those aren't too bad.
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Scott 11:57AM (4/10/2006)
I have an idea on how to bring back our company (G.M.) from disaster. Let's just copy everything that Chrysler and Dodge do. They seem to be on to something over there. Please...more unoriginal thinking (and designs) from an uninspired and miopic magangement team. 'Sorry...try again.
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Rico 12:01PM (4/10/2006)
The exterior is pretty good looking, but the interior looks rather ugly. I'm not familiar with the stock interior, but the DUB edition is still swimming in a sea of grey plastic and the new leather/suede doesn't even look like it fits the seats properly.
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Marcello Mastroianni 12:57PM (4/10/2006)
> Let's just copy everything
> that Chrysler and Dodge do.
Actually, I'd say GM beat 'em both when they courted the bling-bling hip-hop crowd with the Cadillac Escalade. Every once in a while, GM *does* take the lead.
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scott 1:16PM (4/10/2006)
i've been wondering how long it would take before someone did something like this to the lucerne. looks nice, although not quite my style. Tinted headlamps would look good too. However, I'm not too fond of the dvd player - there's no good way to install an aftermarket head unit in there without making it look like a hack job, so i would have stuck with the stock nav unit.
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caffee 2:08PM (4/10/2006)
Folks I'm no hip hop and I'm not about bling bling, but this car turns me on. I would wade in ass deep in a minute, cruise down the boo-lee-vard eyeing my cool self in the windows as I boil by.
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PJ 3:49PM (4/10/2006)
This looks like something a high-schooler would do to his grandparents' car following a shopping spree at Pep Boys.
If Buick wants to attract a younger crowd, they should start branching out from their bar-of-soap shapes and emulate Chrysler's 300. Bold design works far better when it's baked in, not tacked on.
That said, does Buick need to court younger buyers at all? There are plenty of old people who need wheels, and Cadillac is already doing a fine job of attracting young luxury buyers. So why confuse Buick's brand identity?
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Jei 4:09PM (4/10/2006)
The exterior is pretty slick on this aftermarket version. However, the interior is very un-DUB-like. They probably should have had the GM OEM dvd-navigation system installed. The GM systems matches well and looks 100% better than what's in the pics. Looks like they got the V8, but left the simple options out. I hope this is a work-in-progress....the sloppiness needs to be cleaned up.
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Richard Lawler 4:39PM (4/10/2006)
Didn't the escalade come after the Navigator though?
IIRC, GM was following with that also.
as far as this, *shrug* its taken long enough for manufacturers to catch on, if they're trying to figure out which market segment has always and likely will always have a love affair with large powerful american built sedans then what took them so long, you can turn on MTV and see that.
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Marcello Mastroianni 5:39PM (4/10/2006)
> Didn't the escalade come after the Navigator though?
I believe that's correct, but I'm pretty sure that the Navigator wasn't marketed to the hip-hop crowd until after the Escalade had already become an icon.
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Nate Wesley 12:18AM (4/11/2006)
To the poster who said further efforts like this might confuse Buick's brand identity, I disagree. It's still going to be looked at as an upscale/ near luxury cruiser company, and it's still going to be the near default brand for over-45 America.
I've seen customized RWD Caprices/Impalas, Crown Victorias, and 300Cs, and also customized FWD Impalas and Five Hundreds. I doubt the Big Three ever thought those cars would be in demand for young men. A Buick with the same kind of want is probably a good thing.
The fact that you have older Americans tooling around in Scions reminds me that all the marketing in the world won't replace buyers relating to their cars they choose...Uncle Jimmy's banana yellow Honda Element and your nephew Terry's Merc Grand Marquis with the 22" feet should show us this.
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Tom Design 9:41AM (4/11/2006)
Look up "styling" in the dictionary, and you'll see the Lucerne. I almost thought it was a 2nd gen Q-ship at first glance, but the profile is so much sleeker and aerodynamic. Very sexy car, and proves again, nobody but the Germans builds big cars more beautiful than Buick. All the large Asians look like morphed mid sized models, unable to carry their weight. This car is perched and ready to pounce. Hot design works!
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