General Motors’ Buick brand will go all-electric by 2030, following the same timeline for Cadillac.
Buick is also getting a new emblem as it overhauls the brand with fresh designs for its existing gasoline-powered vehicles and for its new products due over the next 18 months.
Buick, GM’s midluxury brand, announced that news Wednesday when it unveiled the Wildcat EV concept vehicle. The concept will influence the design of all upcoming Buick vehicles over the next several years, whether they be internal combustion engine or electric.
“What this whole concept car does, is gives us a visual representation of how the brand is actually shifting as we evolve into electric vehicles,” Rob Peterson, Buick marketing manager, told the Detroit Free Press. “There’s no better marketing than having a beautiful car out on the road. This concept is a start.”
The first EV to hit Buick’s lineup will come in 2024 and it will be an SUV. It and all future Buick EVs will be called Electra followed by a number, Peterson said. Buick has not used the name Electra since 1990.
“Electra has the cache to define what we’re doing,” Peterson said. “By 2030, Electra should have outstanding name recognition with Buick.”
While the Wildcat concept vehicle is a coupe, Peterson said Buick is likely to remain an SUV-only brand even as it shifts to all EVs.
“There are no plans or commitment to bring back coupes right now, but never say never,” Peterson said. “Coupes might have a place in the future.”
Taking on Tesla
Buick is skimpy with the details of the electric SUV it will bring out in two years.
Peterson declined to say where it might be assembled, but said it will share some GM parts with GM’s other EVs. For example, it will sit on the Ultium platform, GM’s proprietary propulsion system that will underpin all of GM’s new EVs.
Peterson said Buick will continue to be the premium brand within GM and “our pricing relationship won’t change in that regard, but it would be too premature to offer anything more specific than that.”
He said he has an idea where Buick’s upcoming EV will land on price and it will be “similar to where it is today.”
The prices in Buick’s current lineup start at $24,600 for the Encore subcompact SUV and go to a starting price of $55,100 for the Enclave Avenir luxury midsize SUV.
Buick currently has a lineup of four internal combustion SUVs, but Peterson said there will be a significant transformation of the portfolio in the next 18 months with freshened internal combustion vehicle designs and the new EV to be introduced.
There will be some overlap with internal combustion SUVs being sold along with new EVs as the brand shifts, he said, but “we see a lot of growth for our brand. So is four the only number of nameplates we’ll offer? 2030 is a long way out…but I think we have a lot of bandwidth.”
Peterson said he views Buick’s main competitors to be Infiniti and Acura, which won’t change even as Buick goes to an all electric lineup because they will offer more EVs too. The part that will change, he said, is increased competition with Tesla because Buick does not yet offer any EVs.
An important EV
The Wildcat concept is meant to take the luxury look to a futuristic level, Peterson said.
The fact that GM chose to call the concept Wildcat reflects seven decades of using that moniker on innovative and progressive Buick concept vehicles.
The first Wildcat was introduced in 1953 as a show vehicle that previewed the next-generation Buick design. More Wildcat concepts followed in 1954 and 1955, with the designs led by GM’s legendary chief designer, Harley Earl. The last Wildcat concept to debut was in 1985. It was a futuristically styled, midengine sporty car made to display new engine technologies.
This latest Wildcat is a long, low, lean car set in Legato Green paint with white and green interior and it is “one of the more important EVs” GM has unveiled recently because it is the new face of Buick, Peterson said.
The upcoming Buicks, be they gas-powered or EV, will carry design elements from this concept and look more futuristic and aggressive. The Wildcat concept features jet-age-inspired 18-spoke “turbine” wheels, where each spoke was made by hand. Part of its roof tilts up as the driver-side door opens, allowing easier access into the car.
“Our forthcoming products will adopt a new design language that emphasizes a sleek, dynamic and forward-looking appearance,” said Sharon Gauci, executive director, Global Buick and GMC Design.
Buick’s Design Manager Therese Pinazzo said the most noticeable change will be in the “face” of Buick. The front of the upcoming vehicles will have long front lamps and a “lower face and sculpted forms.”
The interior will provide a sense of well-being, she said. It will be a mix of premium luxury and technology.
“The vehicle will establish a relationship with you,” Pinazzo said. “There are biometric sensors in the seats so if the driver feels tense, the seats would sense it and either turn down the lights…or release aromatherapy (scents) or change the music to something relaxing. It is to be a comfort cabin.”
The new badge
Buick’s badge will also get a facelift for the first time since 1990.
The well-known tri-shield pillars of red, silver and blue — most recently the pillars have no colors — will move off the front grille and onto the car’s surface. The ring motif around it goes away to give it a modern look, GM said.
The changes to the logo will start appearing on vehicles next year, Peterson said.
The colored columns of the tri-shield have roots in Buick founder David Dunbar’s ancestral history. The original emblem was a single red shield with a stag head, meant to reflect Dunbar’s Scottish family crest, GM said.
In 1960, GM introduced Buick’s tri-shield insignia with distinctive, diagonally arranged red, silver and blue shields. It was used in the front grilles of the LeSabre, Electra and Invicta models. The three-model lineup inspired the three shields.
In the 1970s the tri-shield was used primarily on hood ornaments on some models and the hawk symbol was used as the official logo.
The tri-shield logo returned to prominence in the 1990s, and has continued for the last two decades as a signature styling cue. As part of its evolution, the colors were removed from the shields for a modern effect on new vehicles such as the Enclave.
Buick’s marketing
Peterson said Buick will continue to target female buyers in its marketing of EVs, calling them the “strength of Buick.”
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For each vehicle in the lineup, women comprise 50% of the owners, Peterson said. The average age of a Buick customer is 57 to 58, he said.
“Some of our messaging, even today’s messaging, hits in audiences where that female population already exists,” Peterson said. “A great example is the NCAA partnership that Buick has as well as our relationship with Amazon. Both of them have a highly educated female audience.”
That is the same audience that will want future EVs, Peterson said.
The story has been updated to reflect the correct year the Electra name was last used and the price of the Enclave Avenir.
Contact Jamie L. LaReau at 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.