How easily led we are. There’s plenty of ‘nice guys’ who read AUTOMOBILE, or post here, that I’d respect the opinion of. I certainly no more buy a GM car because some guy was paid $40Mil to shill than I’d wear a pair of Quicksilver baggies because some pro surfer was paid to model them.. I’ll bet it’s more about the guys on the 14th floor who want to ‘hang’ with Tiger, than about actually selling … Jeezus; I hope we’re not that dumb?! …but then we did waste 20,000 young lives recently for nothing.

j i m

i’m not sure of the efficacy of tiger woods as vehicle pitchman – i remember the ads for buick a couple years ago – wholly uninspired, just like him as a guy. helluva golf player – and let’s be blunt – who buys a buick these days? i remember when that same line was used about cadillac, but they managed to turn it around – and for far less than $40MM to license “rock and roll” from Swan Song.

to me, it’s wasted money. they’d be better off spending it on a designer to replace that awful oval grille treatment they continue to flog, along with those silly “exhaust ports” on the side.

i think buick is a goner, actually, in the ultimate GM realignment.

If I had a chance to meet Tiger Woods I’d jump at it. And if there was a Buick nearby I might sit in it and check it out. 8M a year sounds like value for money for all the PR they get. My guess is there are plenty of old guys and Chinese people who like golf and might buy a Buick.

wetstuff, WTF does the wars caused by 8 years of Clinton appeasment policy and islamic extremism have to do with Tiger pitching a Buick? You, sir, are a moron.

I do not think that Tiger is the best pitch for this product. They neet to target/advertise this vehicle COMPLETELY different than they have other products to this point. Time to switch up the marketing strategy, as we all know how well Tiger pitched the Rondezvouz…

Buick needs to start building cars that Tiger would actually drive. How about the Velite.

Sweet baby cheeses, everyone left of right wing extremist is a moron according to 1952 MG TD. I thought registration would have got rid of her.

Buick would be far better served if Wilfred Brimley were the spokesperson. Tiger Woods is just too young to represent Buick.

Taquisha, I am a he, not a ‘her’… and that still doens’t change the fact thta the wetstuff is an idiot. Not for his/her political beliefs, but for needlessly injecting those beliefs into a thread about a golfer’s continued use as a marketing device for an automaker.

TD: You may be Cheney’s Monica Lewinsky, I don’t care … it just seemed remarkable that all these people in power – power in GM too – think we’re so gulible.

….if you gave Tiger $40M: why not make him sign every one ’till you come to $40M in gross sales. After all, the buyers of these X-number of cars are doing nothing but paying him – forget the UAW, parts suppliers, executive bonus’s, etc…

Both Broken Caddy and Oldsmobile nailed the target from another angle.

j i m

if you think you see someone making a stupid comment why get sucked in and start making even dumber comments of your own?

I think Tiger is a great spokesperson for Buick – the problem for GM is the vehicles and using him effectively

off topic and top secret – http://tinyurl.com/k68eb

Yeah, golfing goes with Buick alright. Personally, I just don’t see any potential in Buick. IMO they should get rid of it, and put more focus on GMC. Cadillac is doing well, so don’t mess that up.

Golf is parallel with Buick but any smart person nowadays should not be swayed into parting with a huge sum of money for a long term partnership with a vehicle that he/she does not actually like. A car is a personal companion that should be chosen carefully. Just because a guy you’re a fan of endorses it does not mean it’s the greatest thing out there.

GM and its partners are seeing good growth in China selling Buicks which is one of few bright spots for GM globally so I think that is the main reason to keep the brand going

Hal, true… but I am sure that you have seen pics of the Chinese Buick Lacrosse. I am AMAZED that a vehicle of that caliber is not brought here.

I would hope that Mr. Woods had thought about the quality of the product that he was putting his name on.
Does not speak very well for him at all.
He can hit the golf ball pretty well though.

Do the Chinese even play Golf? They should put the face of the guy from Quaker Oats boxes in the Buick ads, not Woods.

I would call Buick bland, boring, ordinary, I wouldn’t touch one with a bargepole but as far as quality goes I’m not aware that they are worse then the rest of the cars out there. I would happily flog them for a fraction of what Tiger gets paid. Are you listening GM? Heck pay me enough I would even drive one.

I have seen a few photos of the Chinese Buicks but I’m not that familiar with them. I assume build quality is ok and they could be imported to the US except for the political problems it would cause.

It will be really fasinating to watch the restructuring story play out at Ford and GM over the next few months. I would not be surprised to see Renault try and cherrypick out Saab and some of the joint ventures in Asia.

GM has a problem, Buick now has more image in China than in the rest of the world. GM chose to make chevrolet its international value brand by renaming Daewoo, but then launches Corvette and Camaro on confused foreigners. Buick no longer plays in an international market and neither does pontiac. It is difficult to see how they will survive longterm. If Saturns are going to be closely related to Euro GM product they should all have the same name? But Euro GM product is sold as Chevrolet in Mexico and Holden in Australia and Vauxhall and Opel in Europe. It is all too confused and cannot continue for too much longer.

Buick is suffering let it die GM before you end up dying with it.

I know that Buick is doing very well in China. I guess the marketing dept. in GM sucks…and the car styling Dept. of GM also sucked the whole time. It’s not really Buick’s fault, but the GM. Having useless people in charge of approving designs, and marketing. GM should fire them all.

Actually shiftright I would have hoped you would have looked at the quality of the product you were commenting on. According to the 2006 J.D. Power dependability study Buick was ranked 3rd best of all makes.

Top 5

1. Lexus
2. Mercury
3. Buick
4. Cadillac
5. Toyota

Buick ranked higher than all import brands with the exception of Lexus. I’m not a Buick cheerleader, but at least get your facts straight before you post.

MHW, I wouldn’t use the JD Power as a real reference as it has been controversial lately when they changed their grading style to something less scientific in 2006. They used to be a good source though.

Veda, Buick has done well in the J.D. studies for years. They are still a much better source than Consumer Reports.

The Buick Enclave will still sell with or without Tiger. It is the products that will ultimately get the attention of the car buyers. The Enclave is the only Buick worth taking a look because the rest of the Buick lineup leaves much to be desired. Buick was showing a lot of concept cars like the Velite a while back. Why they didn’t reach production is the important question. I guess the beancounters at Buick always won so boring cars still comprise the whole Buick lineup. Even the Oldsmobile Aurora and Alero looked better than the current geriatric cars at Buick. I must say It should have been Buick that should be given the axe.

I agree, if you got Caddy for the elder demographic, there is no need for Buick. Olds at least had some flair and the Shortstar motor should have seen more action than the boat anchor 3800 but alas, GM killed the both of them because they took too much effort and dollars.

Dumbasses

Tiger Woods is a white man stuck in a black mans’ body! LMAO!

No JCF110, Tiger Woods is NOT a white man stuck in a black man’s body. He refers to himself as being a member of the “Caublinasian” race. WTF is that? Caucasian, Black, Indian, and Asian I’m guessing? White, black, red, and yellow – the same colors as a “Tiger’s” striped pelt. What a co-wink-i-dink!

Mary J.Blige.Seriously.The woman has some punch.Drop Woods.

I’m not against blacks at at.I just am not a fan of Tiger Woods.The doing small cheers for himself on the course is childish.Also,no malice intended,what kind of people would want to hang out with Tiger Woods?!Aside from reducing the history and heritage of golf to a cold science of putting a ball in a hole,what does Tiger represent?!A medical school admissions board would ask…what do you do besides analyze a cell?Did you leave the campus in the past 4 to whatever years?

Shopping.Parcels.Luxury.Mary J.!