REPORT: Buick aiming to look younger, see other people (under 70)

We interrupt our regularly scheduled "Buicks are for old people and lascivious golfers jokes" to tell you that the average, median age of a Buick buyer is 70 years old. Compare that to the average age of a new car buyer: 52. Obviously – and no offense to you septuagenarians out there – seventy ain't sexy. And as the first rule of twenty-first century marketing (and light beer commercials) dictates: sex sells.

That said, there is a glimmer of hope if you look at the brand's recent sales trends. Take the 2010 Buick LaCrosse. The median age of its buyer is 55 years old. That's a decade and a half younger than the average Buick buyer, but still a full three years older than the industry average. However you pull apart the numbers, that's good news for Buick.

Buick's new boss – 42 year-old Brian Sweeney who just took over the Buick/GMC division from the nine days and out Michael Richards – wants to lower that age even more. His plan? In a word, Regal. Buick plans to use "experimental marketing" when they pitch the new Regal to potential customers.

We don't yet know what that means in specific, but Buick feels they helped pedal the new LaCrosse to a younger-ish audience by showing the car at, "coffee shops, art fairs and wine festivals." Can we therefore expect to see the Regal at tattoo parlors, dive bars and yoga studios? We wouldn't rule it out. Well, we would rule out the dive bars. And the tattoo joints. Either way, pitching "Not your grandfather's Buick" is a hard sell.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.]