{"id":87590,"date":"2015-01-12T08:50:55","date_gmt":"2015-01-12T13:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=87590"},"modified":"2015-01-12T08:53:31","modified_gmt":"2015-01-12T13:53:31","slug":"buick-avenir-could-shatter-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2015\/01\/buick-avenir-could-shatter-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Buick Avenir Could Shatter Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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GM Design Director Ed Welburn as the Buick Avenir makes its unexpected debut.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By the time the official auto show news conferences begin, automakers have usually signaled what they have coming. But a few surprises manage to sneak onto the schedule, one of them coming from Buick in the form of the Avenir, a boat-tailed sedan that could soon become the resurgent Buick\u2019s new flagship.<\/p>\n

The new sedan is intended to underscore the dramatic changes that are helping remake a brand that seemed all but certain to disappear when General Motors plunged into bankruptcy back in 2009. Officially dubbed a \u201cconcept,\u201d the sedan apparently shares the same underlying platform as the CT6, the premium-luxury model that Cadillac plans to bring to market in 2016.<\/p>\n

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Breaking News!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“This car does a god job of showing everything that we’re doing in the Buick studio,” said Ed Welburn, GM vice president of design, during a Sunday night media preview of the Avenir. \u201cI just love walking into the Buick studio,” added the styling chief, who noted that the youngest members of GM’s design staff love working on Buicks.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a far cry from the way Buick was treated as an outcast brand not all that many years ago. Of course, it helps that it is now delivering record sales, largely because of its success in the booming Chinese market.<\/p>\n

“Design has become the great differentiator in the market,” stressed Welburn.<\/p>\n

(VW Golf, Ford F-150 named North American Car, Truck of the Year. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> for the full story.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Expect a production model to pick up on key cues of the Avenir within the next several years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Avenir is described as a flagship sedan that explores progressive design, along with advanced technologies for comfort and connectivity, GM officials said.<\/p>\n

The Avenir is distinguished by its premium sports proportions and all-new interpretations of traditional Buick cues \u2013 including a modern take on the portholes that were once the brand\u2019s signature. A long hood, wheels-at-the-corners stance and a sloping, rear deck that pays homage to historical models, such as the Riviera, distinguish the Avenir\u2019s proportion.<\/p>\n

Mark Reuss, GM\u2019s executive vice president for product dcvelopment, said the Avenir sits on GM’s Omega platform, which also will be used for the Cadillac CT6, the full-size luxury sedan being prepared as part of the Cadillac Division’s planned revival.<\/p>\n

However, Reuss insisted GM doesn’t have any plans to produce the Avenir. Nor is it targeted at the Chinese market. “The Chinese and U.S. markets are converging. We’re not going to develop separate cars for the two markets.\u00a0 We’re just putting the Avenir out there to see the reaction. We’re going to see what you all write about it,” Reuss said, after the concept\u2019s unveiling.<\/p>\n

(Chevy to add 200-mile range EV, challenge Tesla. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> for the story,)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nonetheless, those attending the Sunday unveiling couldn\u2019t help but get a sense GM would like to put something like Avenir into the Buick line-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cAvenir,\u201d said Welburn. \u201cdemonstrates the growing international reach of Buick and offers an exciting vision of where it can go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vehicle remains unmistakably Buick with a modern take on the traditional Buick cues such as the sweep spear and boattail. The result is a piece of artistry that is precise in its character, beautifully proportioned. It really takes your breath away,\u201d added Michael Simcoe, vice president of design, GM International Operations.<\/p>\n

(GM charges into Detroit Auto Show with second-gen Chevrolet Volt plug-in. <\/em>Click Here<\/a> to check it out.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Avenir grille puts a new face on the brand, noted Simcoe, recalling that it is, \u201ca modern interpretation of a design introduced on the landmark 1954 Wildcat II concept, which shattered expectations of what a Buick was supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether GM will shatter expectations again by finding a way to put Avenir into production remains to be seen, but it is clearly looking to gauge consumer reaction at the Detroit Auto Show and other shows to follow.<\/p>\n

(Paul A. Eisenstein contributed to this report.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In one of the big surprises at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show, Buick has unveiled a striking, retro-future flagship sedan concept. And, as TheDetroitBureau.com reports, a production model based on the Buick Avenir is all but certain to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20009,"featured_media":87587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20009"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87590"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=87590"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=87590"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=87590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}