formula79

This will stir the pot. My question is..why not give Buick a version of the Camaro. I think the size is right, and I think the brands are different enough that they would not hurt each other sales. The Camaro is the affordable in your face muscle car. The Buick is the softer, more technology packed GT. Maybe a more upright greenhouse also so there is room in the back. Something in the mold of a G37 Coupe. I like the Riviera name..though it is a little staid. The could also just name it the Gran Sport or Buick GS.

I know that people will say "What about the CTS Coupe". My thought on that is that the dealership channels are different...so the cars will not compete. I have to drive 40 miles to a Cadillac dealer. I have a Buick dealer in my home town. Also, I am much more likely to stop in a Buick dealer and poke around..where I would only go in a Cadillac dealer if I were dead set on a Cadillac. Lastly, a Buick/GMC dealership is a bit of a snoozefest right now, and could use some coupe action to get people looking at the brand again.

godofdragons

Probably because the Camaro's size and shape make more sense as a sport coupe buick than they do for the camaro itself . You know how GM likes to make sense.

Compstall

They should have something that's competitive with the Taurus SHO. I looked at one the other day, but the $45,000 price tag wanted to make me puke!

guionM

Camaro isn't a Buick. But lets have a flight of fancy based on the question.

Who would be this Buick "Camaro" target buyer?

Keeping in mind that "brand management on a car like this would be an utter disaster (sales canabalization), how much are we prepared to spend on this "Buick Camaro" to make it different both visually and personality wise?

If the idea is to make a soft riding, softly curved sheetmetal, Buick crested V8 powered coupe, you'd have to ask if you really want to take a highly capable chassis like the Camaro-Zeta and dumb it down that much.

The better bet would be to wait for the Alpha chassis and see if a Riviera gets the green light.

HuJass

Guy,
I would think a Riv should be a LARGER car than the Camaro. Traditionally, that's how it's always been. It's a personal luxury coupe, not a sports car.
I could see the Riv going on the regular Commodore platform (like that G8 coupe concept Holden showed a couple of years ago).
The Camaro would stay on the Zeta light or small (or whatever it is they call it) for now and then move to Alpha when it's ready.

Steve0

The Camaro coupe goes for what, approximately $24,000 $40,000? I don't see how (let alone even why you would want to do it ) you could fit a Buick coupe in there when you already have a CTS coupe out there that you can equip with all of the bells and whistles starting at the top of that price range.

I really dont see a market for a $40,000, softly suspended, V8 powered barge... especially when the competition is going to be BMW 3 series coupes and Infiniti G37's... Nightmares of the Caddy El Dorado come to mind....

ehaase

nsap on GMI said that the Riviera is returning. He did not say whether it would be on Alpha or Epsilon II.

skuttduck

Who is the target audience of Buick? I don't know about you, but my observations are that Buick owners have difficulty looking over the steering wheel, handicap stickers, and are parked at the Old Country Buffet around here.

Retirees.

Z28x

Buick Camaro wouldn't work because the interior is too small. A better choice would be to make a Commodore coupe and give that to Buick. An even better choice than that would be to make a Regal coupe and give it a ~375HP turbo DI 3.0L and AWD. Regal AWD coupe would give Buick a unique product that fits the Buick image better and is much cheaper to develop.

Oldsmoboi

I was in on that same discussion with him. Federico actually turned the question back on us about whether the Riviera (if it came, wink wink, nudge nudge) should be FWD or RWD.

I said it should be FWD/AWD because that is what most Riviera buyers know and expect.... and lets face it, Women are 50% of the market and an even higher percentage of new Buick buyers. From 1979 on, the Riviera held the perception of being a "woman's car".

Women (generally) don't care which wheels drive the car, but if they do care, they tend to want FWD or AWD.

Make it beautiful and give 'em what they want.

Eric77TA

Do you mean the Coupe 60? That car was great, and was actually supposed to be the 2007 GTO (but with a different front end, obviously).

Motor Trend published some photos of the stillborn GTO that show that it's about 90% the same as the Coupe 60 (which actually came much later):

http://www.motortrend.com/features/a...gto/index.html

Geoff Chadwick

Where is the facepalm smiley?

Z28x

I know in upstate NY AWD is very popular. Do people in the sunbelt even care about AWD?

jg95z28

My dad was a Buick-man before he owned a Chevy, then returned to Buick later in life. I had the chance to drive my mother-in-law's Buick Park Ave over the summer and I have to admit as a boulevard cruiser... it was the bomb!

Both Buick and Cadillac are targeted at my generation, guys in their mid to late 40s-early 50s, professional, perhaps empty nester, or at least the kids are about to graduate high school or enter college. Buick is trying to paint itself as more of a Japanese luxury marque, ala Lexus, Infinity, whereas Cadillac is more of an American alternative to the German luxo-brands. To me Cadillac says refined American muscle (performance) with money. Buick is more uncompromising luxury and comfort. Buick is also targeting the younger professionals with money, hence their efforts with smaller cars. Cadillac will do the same with Alpha, but with more emphasis on performance.

Buick doesn't need a "Camaro", and Cadillac already has the CTS.

OutsiderIROC-Z

Agree with you, I was thinking very similar to this...