Spy Shots: Mystery GM sedan spotted... Is this a baby Buick?
by John Neff on Mar 16th 2009 at 8:57AM 
These spy shots show a compact car that is rumored to be a baby Buick based on the same Delta II platform as the Chevrolet Cruze and next-gen Opel Astra. Just as the new 2010 Buick LaCrosse will share its platform with the next Saab 9-5 and Opel Insignia, this baby Buick would be one more model that helps General Motors increase the economies of scale for its small car platform. While the spy shooter who took these pics claims that the car is destined for sale in China and the U.S., we're not so sure Americans are ready for a Buick of this size that will almost certainly cost more than the already capable Cruze. GM certainly doesn't want another slow-selling Cadillac Cimarron on its hands, but Buick/Pontiac/GMC dealers may be begging for a small car after Pontiac gets pared down to a niche performance brand and the G3, G5 and G6 go away.
[Source: Next Autos]
Get a WordPress.com Blog
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Avinash machado 9:05AM (3/16/2009)
This could dilute Buick's image as an entry luxury brand. Only the Chevy version should be sold. No more pointless badge engineering.
Reply
Jim 8:39AM (3/19/2009)
Small doesn't mean it has to be cheap. I've always wanted a luxurious small car but can not find them. That's why I end up buying sports car. I bet many other people feel the same.
Brn 9:50AM (3/16/2009)
Jim, wasn't that the purpose behind the Jaguar X-Type?
Mr.Oak 10:04AM (3/16/2009)
Yep, like the 190 did to Mercedes. That's only if it is POORLY executed. the Jaguar Mondeo comes to mind.
Dave 9:06AM (3/16/2009)
Kinda looks like a Daewoo snout hiding under there. Didnt GM co-develop the Cobalt with them?
Reply
Dave 9:08AM (3/16/2009)
Cruze I mean..
Luis 9:27AM (3/16/2009)
Lame.
Reply
Mr.Oak 10:22AM (3/16/2009)
Luis, got a mirror nearby? go take a look. Now that's lame. How could you possibly make a judgement based on this "article" that contains NO information about the content of this car.
Mr. Neff, I'm impressed, you know what a Cimmaron is. Name one car that GM has produced in the last 15 YEARS that was as poorly conceived as the Cimmaron or the Cavalier on which it was based.
Next time you want to take a dig at GM, here are a few names you could drop, Vega, X-Body cars, Lumina, Celebrity etc, etc. Generous sprinklings of these names in future articles would indicate a vastly expanded repertoire. Think how impressed the mostly mindless twits that post here would be.
Rocketboy 12:44PM (3/16/2009)
Hey, Cav's were good(some years great) cars. I know I love mine, and it served me very well. I just got tired of putting money into the bits that were not the engine. (Gas tank, break calipers, etc..)
jv2k 3:36PM (3/16/2009)
Rocketboy the problem with j-bodies was the shoddy interior and limited room.
The cars weren't bad looking(especially compared with the boxy economy car competition), hell the last gen sunfires actually had nice looking front ends, and the last of them got the ecotec engine which is a peppy little engine. I've drove one around for a while and all the interior is ridiculously bad. It wasn't just the poor materials or the color, it was the way the cars were poorly put together.
Mr.Oak 12:31AM (3/17/2009)
The original Cavalier (1982) on which the Cimmaron was based was crap. Subsequent models were quite good.
That model is a scant three years shy of 30, and idiots here still whine about it.
Richard S. 9:49AM (3/16/2009)
Unless that Buick will be based on the Volt and sold as an upscale plug-in hybrid (with significant different sheetmetal and looks from the Chevy), I hope that GM does not even contemplate of adding yet another Chevy clone to its line-up.
Reply
Luis 9:51AM (3/16/2009)
For even MORE money? Ha!
Robert 9:50AM (3/16/2009)
Not bad, not bad. I could dig a small Buick. Price it in the low to mid $20k range and you have a winner. Give it all the options from the Cruze plus more.
Reply
Mr.Oak 11:46AM (3/16/2009)
I too, could dig a properly engineered small Buick. It would also help bring the average age of Buick down. The IS helped bring the average age of ownership down from 90 for Lexus.
Mazda FTW! 10:02AM (3/16/2009)
I doubt it will come to North America. It probably is China. But I don't really see an issue with it though. A lot of older people mght not need a big car and/or consider Mazda3s and even Cobalts to be too 'sporty'. So they might opt for a Buick which is small, frugal and relatively cheaper than the Allure (Lacrosse). I think it's a pretty smart move as the future of the car market here probably will shift towards premium-feature rich small cars. Every small car doesn't have to be "econo" like a Civic or Cobalt.
Reply
300C 10:10AM (3/16/2009)
This has potential as long as GM follows through w/ plans to kill the G3/5/6. There is a market for a small Buick as long as it follows the lines of the 2010 LaCrosse.
There is a market for entry level small luxury cars....the Acura TSX is an excellent example. Now the TSX is much sportier, but it too is a small entry-level luxury car.
Reply
MDtopdad 10:18AM (3/16/2009)
Perhaps this is the replacement for the Buick Excelle that GM sells in China. It would make sense since the Daewoo/Chevy/Suzuki models of the Lacetti/Forenza are scheduled for replacement and it is a facelifted version of that car
Reply
Doc 10:48AM (3/16/2009)
Guys, This vehicle is for China only. This is the D1SB (Delta plataform) for china only. U.S will have the Chevy Cruze (D1SD) version of it.
Reply
inline6 10:47AM (3/16/2009)
Let's clear up some misconceptions right now:
1) There really is no such thing as Daewoo anymore. It's just a badge that's stuck on the cars GM sells in Korea. I don't think the brand is offered anywhere else anymore. GM bought Daewoo in 2003. The Delta II was developed with GMDAT, GM Europe, and GMNA.
2) This isn't the Daewoo-badged version of the Cruze because that car is already on sale in Korea as I type this. Korea was the first market the new Delta II was offered for sale in.
3) Buick has offered plenty of vehicles this size in its history: Skyhawk and Skylark. In fact, it offered both models back in the '80s when Buick's North America sales topped 1,000,000 units in a year (1985).
4) Buick, with toughening CAFE regs on the horizon, is going to need to offer more fuel-efficient vehicles than the LaCrosse and Enclave if it's going to be here in the future. Buick can't support its BPG dealer network with two large vehicles.
5) The list of luxury and near-lux manufacturers that have been successful with small cars in the US is getting longer these days: BMW 1-Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Audi A3, Lexus IS. If BMW, M-B, Audi, and Lexus can offer smaller cars without diluting their brand images, Buick certainly can, too, if the smaller car is done right.
6) Comparisons to the X-Type are ridiculous because Jaguar was positioned FAR higher in our market than it was in Europe, where the X-Type has been more popular. But even at that, the reason the X-Type hasn't worked anywhere, really, isn't because it's a small Jag, it's because quality and execution weren't great, the design hasn't changed since it's 2001 debut, and the styling it had when it debuted was hackneyed by that point. People fled Jag because of their lack of daring with their vehicles' styling and engineering. Not because Jag offered a D segment car.
7) A C -segment Buick, if done right, is exactly what Buick needs in this market. The Enclave (and the Rendezvous before it) have brought Buick's average buyer age from 67 in 2000 to 54 today. That's only 3 years older than Toyota's average. If Buick wants to continue to attract a younger audience, it's going to need a smaller car.
8) The new LaCrosse is going to replace both the current LaCrosse and the Lucerne. Since the new LaCrosse rides the D-segment platform, it only makes sense that it would need a smaller companion, and that next smallest companion model they could offer without competing with the LaCrosse would ride the C platform. A Cruze/Astra-based car does that. Except that the new Cruze is already going to be bigger than the Cobalt, which is already on the large side of the C-segment, anyway.
9) This car probably IS the Buick version, and by the looks of it, it's been significantly rebodied compared to the Cruze. That tells me it isn't a Daewoo-badged car, or a Holden-badged car, since they're just straight rebadges of the Chevy model. This could be the replacement for the Astra sedan. But it's probably the replacement for the Chinese Excelle. And it's probably going to be sold here, too.
Reply