Photo: Buick
Right now, the Buick lineup is made up mostly of badge engineered Opels, just boring sedans and SUV that appeal to buyers of American-built luxury. However, the brand is doing very well and has made a big name for itself in China, where over 500,000 Buicks were sold last year alone.
So, the three shields have marketing value on their own, something that should be capitalized upon with an exciting new model.
That car might be the Buick Riviera, a moniker from the company’s past that has been trademarked by GM on May 3rd. Right now, it’s hard to figure out what sort of car this will be, besides a two-door, but if we were to look back to 2007, we’d find that Buick showed a concept called the Riviera at the Shanghai Motor Show.
Right now, we can only speculate at the moment, but the Riviera could be built on the new Alpha platform for RWD cars that underpins the Cadillac ATS. According to GM Inside News, the Lambda platform for 4-door SUV can also be shoehorned. Another idea would be to rebadge and redesign the next generation of the hotly anticipated Chevrolet SuperSport.
Considering how Buick doesn’t like to go too hot, our money is actually on a normal sedan platform. The Insignia architecture has been configured for all-wheel drive, most notably in the OPC version, which is believed to be coming to the States.
The Insignia, Buick Regal and LaCrosse are all built on the Epsilon II platform launched in 2008. Guess which concept cars were also built on this architecture? You guessed it, the 2007 Buick Riviera. Just to give you an idea, this was 4,720 mm (185.4 inches) long and rode on a 2,870 mm long wheelbase (113 inches). So we can expect a proper 2+2 coupe.
That car might be the Buick Riviera, a moniker from the company’s past that has been trademarked by GM on May 3rd. Right now, it’s hard to figure out what sort of car this will be, besides a two-door, but if we were to look back to 2007, we’d find that Buick showed a concept called the Riviera at the Shanghai Motor Show.
Right now, we can only speculate at the moment, but the Riviera could be built on the new Alpha platform for RWD cars that underpins the Cadillac ATS. According to GM Inside News, the Lambda platform for 4-door SUV can also be shoehorned. Another idea would be to rebadge and redesign the next generation of the hotly anticipated Chevrolet SuperSport.
Considering how Buick doesn’t like to go too hot, our money is actually on a normal sedan platform. The Insignia architecture has been configured for all-wheel drive, most notably in the OPC version, which is believed to be coming to the States.
The Insignia, Buick Regal and LaCrosse are all built on the Epsilon II platform launched in 2008. Guess which concept cars were also built on this architecture? You guessed it, the 2007 Buick Riviera. Just to give you an idea, this was 4,720 mm (185.4 inches) long and rode on a 2,870 mm long wheelbase (113 inches). So we can expect a proper 2+2 coupe.
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