Why Did Buick Survive

Why did Buick Survive when brands like Oldsmobile, Hummer, Saturn, and Pontiac were killed off?
Was it completely because of Buick's sales in China?

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[UhOK]

Buick is an aspirational brand in China. Without stateside Buicks, this loses the luster for the Chinese buyer. American culture is still appealing for the Chinese. Further, there was a long history of Buick in mainland China going back to the 40s. Finally, Pontiac was not doing well at the time of the bankruptcy; rebadging finally caught up to them with the G3 and stronger Australian dollar killed the Holden-built G8.

[mattg]

My current car is a Buick Lacrosse. Before that, I had a Lincoln, Lincoln, and a Buick. Neither offers a sedan anymore so I'll go to Volvo or Audi for my next car. I do not want a SUV/CUV.

[jdgimpa]

As a automotive historian I would submit a few things about Buick and GM in general. Buick was the cornerstone that GM was built on. In my opinion GM shot themselves in the foot when they started offering the same vehicles with different name plates. The lines became blurred as far as the levels of the GM vehicle line. Back when the GM divisions were operated separately you started out with Chevrolet then moved up to Pontiac, then to Oldsmobile, to Buick and then Cadillac. In the mid 70s quality started to slip and got worse as time went on. The government didn't help with their ever tightening emission standards and fuel economy mandates. Not that those were a bad thing but were forced on the automakers in to short of a time frame. The early emission controls hurt fuel economy. GM also had purchased too many outside brands when their resources should have been spent on improving what they already had. They also had a toxic problem within the ranks of management where if you brought up a problem you would be fired. Case in point the ignition switch fiasco. There were signs that they were in trouble before the bankruptcy but they were largely ignored until it was too late. They had no choice than to shed the excessive brands. Without Buick there would have never been a GM in the first place.

[jeffsaxton]

The loss of Pontiac eliminated a division that was dedicated to trying new things. It was sad to see it go. I owned both a Firebird and a Fiero. Both were lots of fun. I like interesting semi weird cars. I currently own two Chevy Volts.

[CW]

I was told by my boomer dad that GM’s plan was to have a teen’s first car be a chevy, his first adult car be a Buick, and a Cadillac when he retires.

[iternityhuman]

Why the Buick cars are special to the Chinese, the emperor owned Buick cars way, way, way back in the day! But perhaps the most influential Buick customer of all time—even if he didn't recognize it—was the last emperor of China. Emperor P'u-i bought two of the cars in 1924. They were, in fact, the first motor vehicles ever allowed to pass through the gates of the Forbidden City. Thanks for the vid Jon good stuff!

[JeffSproul]

Back in 2009 Government Representatives for the GM bailout met with GM executives according to Bob Lutz in an interview on Rare Classic Cars. During the meeting the Government planned to cancel not only Pontiac and Saturn but Buick and GMC as well. GM made a strong case that Buick brought in lots of revenue from China and was more popular in China and GMC was a money maker for GM. Bob Lutz wanted to keep Pontiac and make it a strictly performance brand but the Government representatives would not agree to keep Pontiac. Pontiac was going to get axed regardless. Bob was asked if Pontiac would have survived in today's market and he said probably not since they would have had to go to strictly suvs and crossovers. Agree Buick has become a mostly a crossover/suv company and many of them are rebadged Chevrolets. At one time all the GM divisions had their own motors, transmissions, and other features that were not shared but that has been decades ago. According to Lutz the popularity of Buick did save it from the chopping block.

[SRMWorkshop]

I think you are right about Oldsmobile being less appealing because of the Old in the name. However I've felt for many years that Pontiac was just a Chevy variant with more aggressive styling and maybe a bit more performance. There is the possibility Pontiac sales were weakening Chevy sales where as Buick is going after a different market, and with the overseas sales it made more sense to keep.

[OldDood]

I was a GM Guy up to 2006. Born and raised in Buick Town.
I ended up purchasing Buicks in the early 1990's as our children were adding to the family.
We had a 1994 Skylark (3.1L). It was 'OK'. I like the styling back then.
Then we got a 1994 LeSabre Limited. (3.8L) I loved that car.
It had a Flat Dashboard all the way across the interior. No Cockpit.
It had all the gauges. Not just idiot lights.
It road really well.
THEN came the Repairs then the RUST.

So we purchased a 2000 Park Avenue. (3.8L) Another Buick that I loved.
It had to this day the best Lumbar Seats ever. It was a 'Bladder' that filled my lower back. Not a 'Pinch Bar' you have today.
It road really well. Not a well as the LeSabre but well.
THEN came even MORE repairs. Silly repairs. Expensive Repairs. I was sick of it.

So in 2006 I looked for a new Century. Buick killed them as well as the rest of the Buicks I liked.
So we looked at Toyota. Never looked back.
We still have our 2007 (3.5L) Camry XLE in our driveway.
Very little repairs. I have done the brakes only once, were I used to repair my Buick's brakes every two years.

Now they cater to the Chinese? Seriously?
How many times people gave me crap for 'Not Buying American'.
I am buying American. Toyota is built here. Built really well I might add.

So screw Buick. Screw GM as a whole now a days.
They screwed us with their cheaply made product.

[gmclubapparel]

Back in the day (pre-1980) they used to have the motor divisions which had their own unique engineering and features. They did share common parts and platforms but nothing close to the commonality found today. and btw- OLDSmobile actually outsold Chevrolet back in 1985 with the OLDS Cutlass being the number #1 car in the USA.

[DustinEvans]

I watched your video when walking around a city of about 3 million people here in China. I counted 47 Buicks in the time of the our video. I've never seen any of these Buick models back home in Canada though.

[tomprous]

Back in 2004, when Olds died, i worked at a dealership that sold Oldsmobile, theyy had the best customer loyalty. Unfortunately, the average age of customer was like 67. This was 4 years before the bankruptcy.

[zjones]

Buick serves as a good middle ground for people who want to upgrade to a little more caché but don't want a luxury marquee. It made more sense to keep it over Oldsmobile because by that time Olds didn't have nearly as strong of a brand identity.

[aresee]

At nearly 65, I've owned my own cars for over 40 years. I don't think I was all that unique, but I never really had "brand loyalty." The first car I bought was a British Leyland Triumph Spitfire. That car had by far the worst reliability of any car I ever owned (though, I loved driving it). Since then, I've had a Ford, a Pontiac, a Mercury, a Chrysler, a BMW, and a BMW. I chose each one based strictly on what struck my fancy and could afford at the time. And my length of ownership pretty much increased with each car I bought. (BTW, all but the Pontiac and Mercury were convertibles.)

[markstewart]

BUICK HAD ONE OF THE BEST.
RELIABILITY RATES OF ALL THE GM PRODUCTS

[johnh]

It’s a dirty shame that Buick was spared over Pontiac. But the numbers didn’t lie and during the bailout process, Buick was profitable (at least in China) where Pontiac wasn’t. Unfortunately Pontiac seemed to be on their way to turning things around (I drove a G8 and was very impressed) but it was just too late and bad timing.
In hindsight it is probably all moot, since Pontiac today would just be another motley group of badge-engineered crossovers much like Buick has become today.

[trident]

Regarding "it's just a name, " let's remember that people thought the Toyota Corolla was better than the Chevrolet Malibu even though both were manufactured at the same plant at the same time in the SF Bay Area. "Name or Brand" does indeed matter to some people even though you and I know it's nothing other than badging. Thanks for the video.

[bodytolson]

My crackpot theory is that a lot of the actual drivetrain developing engineers were in Buick. Think the 3400 and 3800 series V6 engines, those were developed by the Buick division and in just about every GM car during that time period. The other makes that got cut just didnt have the sort of R&D strength that Buick had

[nsidor]

The sad death of American branded sedans & wagons is tragic on so many levels.
The Buick Regal TourX wagon (RIP 2020) was, in my humble opinion, the most beautiful station wagon ever produced.
The whole Regal line in '20 was, from a styling standpoint, "a breath of fresh air"
My current daily driver is a '02 Pontiac Grand Prix GT with nearly 220, 000 on the clock and still performing flawlessly.
It seems that just when GM started getting the sedan just right, they just gave up.
A pity really...

[williamegler]

Buick was popular and profitable in China.
Pontiac and Oldsmobile never expanded outside of North America and both suffered declining sales for years as their buyers moved towards imports.
All the people lamenting the passing of both divisions only have themselves to blame because they probably bought a Toyota or Honda instead of a new Pontiac or Olds.
A company facing bankruptcy isn't going to save an unprofitable division just to keep a few enthusiasts happy.