As General Motors’ mid-luxury brand, Buick walks a fine line between premium Cadillac and mass-market Chevrolet. To help move the brand more upmarket, the automaker unwrapped a thinly-veiled luxed-up LaCrosse to gauge interest in a range-topping model.
Turning to “fine cuisine, heirloom objects and enriching experiences,” the creators of the ultra-luxury LaCrosse GL Concept have set out to create the ultimate expression of luxury in the modern Buick lineup through the addition of subtle touches, more exquisite materials and stylistic changes more befitting of a true luxury sedan.
“The LaCrosse GL concept expresses Buick’s distinctly human kind of luxury – one that is as warmly inviting as it is elegant and refined,” said David Lyon, executive director of design, Buick. “The design cues that already distinguish the production LaCrosse – such as the premium leather-upholstered seats, ice blue ambient lighting and soft touch surfaces – are amplified in the GL and serve as inspiration for future Buick models.”
What’s new with the LaCrosse GL?
Starting with the exterior, this luxury sedan covered in a Cabernet metallic red paint, which is framed by brushed and tinted chrome accents on the front fascia, handles and even satin-finished wheels.
Even peering inside through the windows onlookers will be met with a dramatically improved interior, swathed in top-dollar materials that ooze luxury. Buick also says that it intended to use warm and welcoming colors and materials, intended to make all occupants feel comfortable and welcome.
The seats, doors and instrument panel surfaces are all finished in contrasting dark cocoa brown and caramel chocochino supple leather. Designers says that their intent with the pillowed seat cushions was to evoke thoughts of windswept sand dunes, while the ice-blue French stitching along their seams tie-in with Buick’s signature ambient lighting.
Not content with simply covering the typical locations with softer materials, even the headliner is covered in a chocochino suede material, a touch above most any luxury cars aside from significantly more expensive coach-built vehicles.
Other fine interior details include the continued application of brushed or matte metal finishes and a fine wood grain that Buick says is intended to resemble that of the ombré patina fade found on classic Gibson Les Paul guitars.
