I think it goes back just a little further. GM neutered the brands whenever they made the decision to make the frames/bodies the same. Whenever they started with they started that is when they started to dig their own grave. Sure we love the 64-77 A-body, but it was the beginning of the end. I always get flamed for this, but with a few exceptions, most cars share the same styling cues of their era.. it's no worse today than it was in 1970. We all just prefer the styling of 1970.....
I’m still happy with my 2003 Buick Rainier, just doing a cam, headers and nitrous on the 5.3. The AWD works well, nice comfy interior and it drives great with a 2” lowering kit.
I never really had an issue with the platforms... that made sense to me, there would be no real reason to build different frames, and not share transmissions and rear ends. In fact it was beneficial to us lovers of the less popular brands.. A body suspension and chassis/steering parts are widely available, to this day. From inexpensive replacement items like ball joints and steering linkages, to the most exotic cross breed tall spindle negative camber wizbangers. To me, the engine was the heart of the vehicle, it's influence on how the car looked, sounded and drove cannot be compared to any other one part of the car. Once the division specific engines were gone, so was any real difference in the vehicles. There was no reason to keep building 4 different versions of a Chevelle. GM slowly figured that out over the years to some extent. And educated consumers knew it.. witness how much more sought after a 79 TA is with the Pontiac 400 vs. with the 403 olds. I think they would have been wise to consolidate down to one car and truck line, decades ago. Union politics had more to do with keeping all the different divisions, than did any real consumer reason.. GM guys are GM guys, from my experience, when it comes to commuter cars and trucks.
GM(also Ford & Chrysler) has been sharing alot of architecture/platforms and bodies for decades, at least back into the 30's. I live in a 55 plus community and I would say 90% of the vehicles are small SUV's and there are a large number of the various Buick SUV's. My parents snowbird with me and before coming down they bought a new fully loaded 2020 Buick Envision AWD, the fit and finish is superb, the interior is gorgeous and with the 2.o Turbo there is excellent power, it also has the entire suite of safety features like automatic braking, lane departure, adaptive cruise etc. The all new 2o21 Envision is being released, it will have two versions, the regular and then there will be a 3 row seat version which will be in between the regular Envision and the Enclave in size. That will give Buick 5 different size SUV's, plus the Regal series will be making a comeback in 2023/24 for those that may still want a car. Buick needs to get their electric SUV to market sooner than later. Car companies stay in business selling what the regular consumer wants, not was a bunch of car guys that wouldn't buy one anyway wants. As I said in the GM logo thread, GM is starting to listen to what the customer wants and not what they think the customer should buy. I have not owned a car as my daily driver for over 30 years, I couldn't even imagine dealing with one for my everyday needs.
Cars are for driving, suvs are for living. The lady and I love to take the Century out for cruising and light everyday tasks, but I'd say 90% of the time we use her suv for anything more than grabbing food.
Well said Jim. Corporate greed and the “hooray for me” philosophy rule these days. Only getting worse.
I understand what you're saying with the frames and rears etc.. but look what happened as time marched on. I agree with the corporate engine thing. I've always thought that GM did that simply because it would have been way too expensive to have all the other engine makes meet the upcoming emission stamdards. I know I read somewhere that the olds V8 by design produced the least amount of emissions out of any of the GM engines. It was the natural candidate to move forward with and that's why the 403 and 307 lived as long as they did.
What’s sad to me is that so many consumers are viewing cars like they do phones. They don’t care what they actually cost or how long they’ll last, they just want features and a monthly price. It won’t be long before the subscription model becomes the norm and drivers will be chomping at the bit to upgrade and manufacturers and dealers will be competing based upon the features and monthly payment. The market already has become ‘lookit our Sportatato! It’s for your active lifestyle! It has every safety nanny imaginable to save you, your children, pedestrians and dogs from you! We know you’re tired parents with tattoos and beanies! We know you’re too dumb trim the bushes by your driveway! We know you don’t want to look out the windows and aim the mirrors! It syncs to your devices! It has Bluetooth and Amazon Prime and Appleplay and Twittle and Doordash and Youtube from the factory! You can use Allegra to start it from a hot air balloon! You can tell it to —what was that?! we almost hit a jogger-thank you safety nanny!’ Personally, I like to own my cars and want a platform that will function and be serviceable past the warranty period, but I realize I’m becoming a cranky old man and a minority among the sheeple. I understand that the market’s going that way and don’t blame the manufacturers for going where the customers are, but I don’t want or need automatic braking, blind spot monitoring and all the safety nanny stuff. I don’t want a fragile disposable appliance, I want a sturdy machine I can service and repair. My old Tahoe has 267k on it. Our newish Durango R/T may not last that long, but a 365hp v8 is a lot more fun (and has a better chance of 100k plus) than a turbo 2.nothing. Patrick
Actually China is the only reason that GM is still alive. GM sells about half of the cars that it builds there. If you were the CEO of an automobile manufacturing company, I pose the following question. China is the world's biggest car market with a population of 1.5 billion people. The United states is not the world's largest car market and has a population of about 350 million. Which market would get preference in your car designs?
Yep, the US market may well become a niche market. FCA/Stellantis (ask your doctor if Stellantis is right for you!) likely will keep Jeep, Dodge and Ram for the US and use all the other companies for Europe and China. To me it’s a smart plan; if electrics and such are our future they’ll rebadge the China stuff for us. If fuel goes way up, they can rebadge or import the Euro stuff. In tne meantime, Hellcat all the things! Patrick
I still own a 1982 Regal limited because sentimental issue's. It was bought brand new and my Pops co signed for it.. Biggest reason I went for it was because this was the time that they started putting the big fluffy "cheap cloth" sofa cushion style seats in luxury cars. I was young and stupid Think Cutlass Supreme Brougham that was a popular in the day. There is NO dash lol! especially on the passenger side which has a really weird feeling when you sit on that side and all you see is the windshield in front of you and what ever dash there is it's like made from foam.. When I started to change out the coil springs because I was tired of ending up in the next lane after hitting a bump I truly realized it was built like a disposable Bic lighter. The top A arm spring cups looked like they were cut with a huge old style can opener which just notched a triangle cut on a can. There was a series of jagged vee cuts all around, just unbelievable they did it that way. How in the world did GM get by with outer tie rods snapping???? It happened to all of my friends who owned G body Cutlasses and Monte Carlos and Grandprix. All of them no lie. Then there's the snap in retainer to hold the rear wheel brake cylinder in on a backing plate about the thickness of a pie pan instead of the 2 bolts like in the day. I even took a tour when I was in High school to the Framingham MA GM plant to were they built the Regals and Cutlases. Wow they were built fast and cheap. The thing is I wanted and needed a new car and a TransAm or Camaro wasn't going to do it for a family so it was the Regal but came close to a Lesabre or Dealer driven Electra. I did do a good job with alot of oil changes and waxing, which helped alot but the old style cat burnt through the undercoating and there is a hole in the floor board on that side. It also seemed that GM designed these cars that every 4 years on the button it would need a alternator or exhaust or etc.. I'm glad you brought up the GMC because I never knew the difference for a while Still have some fond memory's though..
Blame that on the market in North America, people don't like sedans anymore. They all want a full-size truck or an SUV. In China they still love the sedan! Buick Completes Update Of Its Sedan Portfolio In China Despite the growing demand for SUVs, the sedan category is still very popular in China. https://www.newsbreak.com/news/1550727834582/buick-completes-update-of-its-sedan-portfolio-in-china
Here here! Thats it in a nut shell. I see it everyday driving around in a higher than normal work truck and at home with my wife and daughters face glued to the phone. Last week I saw a lady nearly buy the farm by pulling out in front of a 18 wheeler. She drove on like she didnt even notice. If that driver had been on his phone as well someone would have died and I'd probably been dragged into it as well. Now they are building cars / trucks that need little driver input to make it even easier to be distracted. Reminds me of some futuristic movies I'd seen in the past where ya get into a car and say take me home and the car does that automatically
U.S. car companies made a grave mistake in having China produce vehicles under their nameplate. One needs to look no farther than what happened with Steve Saleen. Companies think that because of non-disclosure agreements and contracts that their brands are safe. Reality is China has most U.S. intellectual property in their possession and when they see fit, can knock off most products with ease and at light speed. Keep this in mind.....millions of products, Buicks included are being physically produced on foreign soil under communist rule. If something were ever to go south with them (currently doubtful under this admin) keep in mind they have the physical assets, we have paper.
That's a very interesting point. I wonder if the high end Chinese market will become customers for our old Buicks! Oh, the irony.
That device and the internet behind, while definitely a road hazard (LOL), also provide massive education opportunity, that our generation(s) never had. Want to learn Math? kindergarten through engineering grade calculus all available for free (kahnacademy.com) and with much better instruction than most of us suffered through. Also the idea that in the past consumers were better educated about cars is a joke. It has never been the case.
Old Buicks and China, I noticed a few ragtop Buicks in this video: Huge Canadian classic car collection headed to China Jim Ratsoy spent the past three decades selecting the best vehicles in North America for his collection Among the cars that he says are most notable that are heading to China is his massive 1958 Buick Limited convertible – the largest production convertible ever built by General Motors’ Buick Division. “It was originally silver with a red leather interior but we painted it black which is my favorite color for cars. Black shows off the chrome very well,” he says. He admits he may buy some more cars in the future. It’s in his DNA. His father was a General Motors dealer in northern Alberta and Jim became a dealer at the young age of 23. He’s been buying and selling cars all his life and it may be hard to stop. Link: https://driving.ca/buick/auto-news/news/collector-classics-beijing-bound
...But very few use it learn calculus. Watching other people eat or play video games? Check. Kim and Kanye? Check. Pictures of Bernie’s mittens? Yep. Patrick
