Buick. Comfort and prestige
Buick is the world’s oldest car brand! Established in 1902, Buick is about to mark the 120-th anniversary of its foundation! Is there an American car that can be called more family than Buick? No way… These huge comfortable cars, as majestic as ships, were proudly floating on the roads of America for years. Buick was both the National Family Car of the Year, and number one in the ranking of quality cars, and the best value American car, and the best-selling American car. Buick was on the list of the best American car manufacturers. And many times Buick made the law of automotive fashion in the USA. The world-famous car designers Sir William Lyons of Jaguar and Sergio Pininfarina called Buick one of the most beautiful American cars ever made.
Speaking of Buick, we usually mean middle-class cars, which are sold only in the US market. But both are wrong today. Buick can be attributed to the initial premium class, it perfectly competes with the Lexus and even overcomes it in the American market – for example, as released in 2010, Buick LaCrosse has strongly lowered the market position of the recognized leader of the luxury segment, Lexus ES350. Besides the North American market, Buick is now present in China, where these cars are in ever-increasing demand.
The success story
Finally, Buick is the oldest car brand in the world! Founded in 1902, Buick will soon celebrate its 120th anniversary! Without Buick, there might not have been the American car giant General Motors, at least not in the way the whole world knows it. The legendary American car brand Buick was the basis for GM establishment. For many years, it was the leading brand of this automotive concern.
Well, it all began with David Dunbar Buick, a Scottish-born American with a passionate love for cars. So passionate that he sold his part of the quite successful enameled bath business to his partner and invested all the money in the car production. In 1902, he established the Buick Motor Car Company.
Buick is the oldest car brand in the world! Founded in 1902, Buick will soon celebrate its 120th anniversary!
The Scottish origin of David Dunbar Buick determined the origin of the Buick logo, which appeared only 35 years after the birth of the brand. In 1937, the GM designer Ralph Pugh found a description of the ancient Scottish origin of the Buick family and found an interpretation of their family coat of arms. Not a drawing, but a text description of the coat of arms: A red shield with a plaid silver and blue diagonal line going from the upper left corner to the lower right. Antlers with a serrated neckline in the upper right corner of the shield and a golden cross in the lower-left corner. The cross has an opening in the center and the red background is visible through it. As described, Pugh himself painted the coat of arms, which he decided to use as a decoration for the radiator grille of Buick cars. The size and shape of the coat of arms varied, depending on the grille designs.
Two years later, in 1904, was developed model B, which immediately brought the company a huge success. In 1908, the company entered an agreement to join the General Motors Corporation but remained an independent division. In the same year, a record was set – 8800 Buick cars were sold. No other brand offered its customers such a wide range of models, and no other brand sold them as fast as Buick. By 1908, Buick overtook Oldsmobile and Cadillac in sales.
In the next 10 years, Buick was the best-selling American car. And by the ‘20s of the 20th century, was 4th in the list of the best American car manufacturers. Buick accounted for almost half of the money earned by GM. In 1923, a millionth Buick car left the assembly line. The production reached 550 cars per day.
In the '30s, Buick’s bodywork style was considered the best in the US, which, complemented by excellent 6- and 8-cylinder engines. And Buick was constantly expanding its model range: if in 1930, 15 models were produced, in 1931 there were already 28. Automatic ignition was another new feature of Buick in the ‘30s. In 1939, Buick was the first to install turn signals on its cars. Other car brands introduced turn lights decad 39 had a column-mounted shifter. In the same year, the longest and the most prestigious Buick was produced – an 8-seat limousine of the Limited series, model 39-90L.
The famous yellow Buick Roadmaster Convertible of 1949 was a character of the ‘Rain Man’ with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise.
After the Second World War has ended, the mass production of a new model began. Later it became truly legendary – it was Buick Roadmaster. This Master of the Road was not just big, but very big! It was as impressive as a powerful locomotive. The Roadmaster was the first model with both an automatic gearbox and a curved windscreen instead of a V-shaped one. The famous yellow Buick Roadmaster Convertible of 1949 was a character of the ‘Rain Man’ with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise.
Buick Roadmaster was the first car with decorative vents on the front fenders. Originally designed to improve the engine room cooling, they soon became a decorative element to gave a unique and recognizable look to the Buick cars. The Roadmaster was so popular that the company decided to repeat its success after many decades, releasing the rear-wheel-drive Buick Roadmaster in 1991, after 33 years of absence. About 40,000 Roadmasters were sold in the first year, making it a hit of the American market.
In the year of 1953, Buick celebrated its 50th anniversary with the launch of the new Buick engine, the Nailhead V8, and the anniversary Buick – Roadmaster Skylark. The car was produced in a limited edition, only 1690 cars. It immediately became a collectible. Appeared in 1963, the Buick Riviera was respected even by competitors. Sergio Pininfarina recognized it as one of the most beautiful cars in America. Buick Riviera of the first generation is still considered a style icon and is very highly valued by collectors.
The challenges came when Buick, like other US manufacturers, faced the changing world… with the fuel and economic crises that made people buy cost-efficient small cars. The Japanese used this to enter the American market. Even if you don’t want to change your production, you have to do it in order to keep up with the times and meet new challenges.
In the '80s, Buick updated all its major models. Almost all the new-generation cars were reduced in size, many received a front drive and, for the first time ever, Buick began to offer modifications with a diesel engine.
And yet… regardless of the challenges, Buick produced the fastest American car in 1987. It was the Buick Grand National GNX. Only 547 of them, though. To create it, the specialists of McLaren Performance Technologies/ASC were involved. They helped to boost the engine power up to 300 hp, and torque up to the fantastic 569 Nm. GNX was nicknamed the ‘Darth Vader’s Car’. And Buick got the nickname “Big Ugly Indestructible Car Killer”. :))
The Buick has changed. The classic American angular design was replaced by smooth lines. All the innovations of the Buick embodied in the front-drive Buick Park Avenue, released in 1991, which received many awards from car magazines, including Best American Car Value – Best American car in terms of value. At the same time, the company’s logo also changed: a hawk, which appeared with the start of the Skyhawk series, disappeared and a deer head with a cross was removed from the logo image. In the early 2000s, the Buick logo lost its colors. Only three stylized shields left.
New models
In the period 2005-2008, the entire line of Buick cars was revised. It began to consist of only three model series: 1. Buick LaCrosse – since 2005, it replaced Century and Regal families; 2. Buick Lucern – since 2006 replaced the LeSabre; 3. SUV Buick Enclave.
By 2017, the range was formed, consisting of a compact sedan Verano, compact convertible Cascada, middle-class sedan Regal, and large sedan LaCrosse. The range is completed by a trio of crossovers: Encore, Envision, Enclave.
The positioning of Buick cars still remains in the premium segment. According to GM: Buick is a premium brand of the so-called initial level. Today Buick cars compete in the American market with Acura, Lexus of the initial level, and Volvo.
In the list of General Motors, Buick is at the top of the rating. The more prestigious brand is only Cadillac. The perfect client of Buick is wealthy, probably, not so fabulously rich to afford Cadillac, or maybe this client simply does not want to brag and stand out, yet prefers a comfortable prestigious car above the average price level.
