Darth the question was not about a Buick Coupe it was about a Buick convertible. Somthing Buick hasn't had in many moons. I will stick with my Sigma with an LS2 and 6 speed auto but I will say a HF V6 could be used if desired.

 

Buick needs a Charger fighting sedan first.


I dont see a 2+2 with the features Z284ever lists coming in anywhere near 36k and change.

 

Realistically? Take a current G6 convertible, replace the interior with significantly upgraded design and materials, make everything standard equipment (including the 240 hp HF3.9), replace the front and back ends with "Buick-ey" looking components, price it at $31,995 and, wah-lah, new Riviera! Oh, yeah, almost forgot... air several commercials with Tiger Woods driving it........

 

Yep, me neither. I also don't see a reason for an Epsilon sized (or smaller) car at Buick. Does GM really need for three divisions with two mid-sized cars each? As it is, I'd say that's too many. I'd personally like to see the next Grand Prix grow and go RWD, thus leaving the Impala's segment.

On that note...

Why not take the new Holden Commodore, and make that car both a Buick and Pontiac large RWD car. I think with a good reskin and different components one could make two distinct vehicles. The Pontiac, with agressive styling, could employ a suspension tuned towards handling along with two OHV engines (a 3.9 and an LS variant) to truly compete as a poor-man's BMW. The Buick could sport more conservative sheetmetal along with a softer, "Quiet Tuned" ride and two OHV engines (the 3.6 and a slightly detuned version of the STS's Northstar). This would nicely compete with the far more expensive Lexus LS series.

Also note that if the Commodore indeed sports Torana styling, the Pontiac would not need a reskin but rather a simple rebadge. Thus, the entire for these two cars would consist of one re-skin, one re-badge, and whatever expenses might be involved in making the car meet US crash requirements.

I don't know much about developement costs, but I'd bet that doing what I said above would be far cheaper than producing even one new car from the ground up. The one thing I'm not sure about is where I would build it. Importing it from Australia might be a safer, intitially cheaper option, and it would fit the "niche" segment that GM wants both brands, along with RWD in general, to be in. On the other hand, it's not like GMNA would have difficulty finding capacity for these cars, and perhaps they could build both of them along with the next GTO at one plant and thus further spread the costs.

LOL. Looking at what I just wrote, I've realized that I may have simply regurgitated the zeta plan that GM dumped this summer. Still, I see it as a decent idea, and a Commodore rebadged as a Pontiac Grand Prix would make perfect sense if it does indeed have Torana styling.

 

Dave I noticed that too, but I wasn't going to say anything.

I would not be suprised to see a Buick on Sigma I. If ANY GM company, other than Caddy, could command the premium price that is needed to justify Sigma it is Buick and they need something to pull people into the showroom.

 

Me LIKES......
How much can it share with the Solstice???
Not an expert on the platform stuff, but I'd sure LOVE to have one, name it a Riviera, EVEN BETTER! They definitely need a GS or even GSX BACK in the line up!( A COUPE !)......Buick Sport..."Fast with Class"...
(Look out Z3.....)(I would buy one over a Solstice...)

 

Why not?
It would be on a volume architecture, with volume powertrains. Besides, I think GM is moving towards more realistic pricing vs the "just kidding" price plus rebates. You could price it at $42K plus $5k in rebates I suppose. But I think that the $37K I described is realistic.

Also, (and not necessarily directed at you, falchulk), why wouldn't GM consider/expend energy on something spicey for Buick? Presumably we'd want Buick to survive wouldn't we? Besides, GM's a big company - they can do more than one program at a time - the business case gets better when you can share a platform with other high volume cars.

 

I'd say nothing.

 

So it would be closer to the CTS, or XLR....?

 

You're right... my mistake.

I read the part about Riviera, and started thinking coupe.

Still doesn't change my opinion though... Buick coupe or convertible wouldn't be even close to a priority to me if I were pulling the trigger at GM.

 

Why would you want a Northstar or turbo HFV6 when the LS2 has more power and (seems to get) better gas mileage than either.

I'm underwhelmed by the 320hp of the current STS engine. It can't quite keep up with the Chrysler 300C, and it barely matches in fuel mileage, yet it's larger and probably heavier (guessing on the latter).

Turbo V6s aren't so great either. You either need two turbos, or you accept a long tract from exhaust manifold to turbo. They're more expensive than a V8 and don't seem to offer any advantage. I think turbos work better on flat or inline engines.

 

Look at the convertable Mustang.........it's a 30k to 31k with a soft top and its extremely value priced. A car with the features you describe would put it in at least the 39k range. And think about this, whats it's competition?

 

Well, here is my shot at this:

Create a new, better, Sigma architecture to underpin the next generation of Cadillacs and use the CURRENT sigma architecture to bring RWD to other GM divisions. I would use the current sigma to underpin:

Impala (Large)
Camaro (Small?)
Grand Prix (Mid)
Monte Carlo (Mid)
GTO (Mid)
Firebird (Small?) (Using different Powertrain than Camaro and distinctive styling)
Buick Large RWD Entry-Lux sedan
Buick Mid RWD Entry-Lux sedan
Buick Velite (Small?)
Buick Entry-Lux Crossover

For Cadillac I would have the following on an all-new high-end Sigma:
CTS (offer small V8 as a base engine choice)
CTS-V (drop Corvette engine and use supercharged Northstar to be consistent with the rest of the V-Series)
CTS-class coupe/hardtop convertible
STS and STS-V (V8's)
STS-class coupe
DTS (Use a new V10 Northstar)
A "Fleetwood" sedan placed above the DTS in price and level (Use a new V12 Northstar)

Position Saturn as an upper-level small performance car brand. Use smaller engines with higher-end technologies and turbo-charging on Red-Line series vehicles. The Sky roadster would keep the 4-cyclinder engine.

Chevrolet would be positioned as the "All-American" brand with heritage-inspired styling.

Pontiac should be THE performance-oriented division within GM. Great contemporary styling. The Solstice would lose its 4-cylinder in favor of a V6 (to further differentiate it from the Sky). GXP series vehilces would get supercharged engines. No 4-cylinders would be used in Pontiac's line-up.

Buick would get a bunch of RWD vehicles and would be positioned as an entry-level luxury brand or even as an affluent youth brand. Styling would have to be dramatically improved over current Buicks.

 

Well, 2008 is so far away its not funny anymore.

I'd still build Velite on a RWD platform. Buick is supposed to compete with Lexus. Lexus have RWD. Buick should shed its cardigan image and offer luxo-sport RWD.

Velite: The styling sells the car. It's beautiful!

 

An LS2 won't fit/package in Epsilon. Why would I suggest using Epsilon? Because as I was saying, I don't believe a RWD hardtop convertible Riv could be done by '08.