By Leftlane Staff
Tuesday, Apr 4th, 2006 @ 9:05 am

Lately, General Motors has been working hard to bring Buick back from the brink of collapse. But prior to new models like the Lucerne and Enclave, GM didn’t seem too worried about creating a competitive product. And according to one industry researcher, it was sheer arrogance that caused GM to neglect Buick. “I remember being told by a GM executive … that they’d never worried about Buick because as people got older and richer, their asses would get fatter and they would always buy Buicks to sit ‘em in,” said Dan Gorrell, vice president of San Diego market research firm Strategic Vision, which has done consumer studies for GM. In the mid-1980s, a Burbank market research firm hired by the automaker warned that European and Japanese rivals were getting ready to leave GM in the dust. “The sounds of heavy armor can be heard in the suburbs, in what may be the final assault on General Motors’ long-time stronghold, the luxury car market,” the report from Vista Group said. If GM didn’t satisfy car buyers’ tastes for better cars, Buick would start losing customers to the new competitors. The Vista report proved prescient.

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