Buick ’s recent move to the top of the J.D. Power and Associates’ 2007 Vehicle Dependability Study, in a tie with Lexus , and high customer satisfaction ratings has General Motors considering expanding the Buick line-up.
Mark La-Neve, GM’s vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing said in a recent interview, “We think we’ve got room for expansion in the Buick lineup, and we see Buick over time hitting that space in the market where today Acura is, Volvo is – that’s its historic position, where it’s a cut above Dodge , Chrysler and Ford . It [Buick] was always a near-luxury premium car.”
LaNeve also said GM is considering changing Buick ’s line-up to reflect that of Buick China: “By leveraging some of the products that we’re going to be introducing in China over a period of years, we can augment the Buick lineup to really slot it in a very sophisticated place in the market above the mainstream.”
According to Automotive News, Buick will not get a version of the Pontiac G8, an idea shot down by Buick dealers as they thought it would overlap with the Lucerne.
