When Buick introduced the new LaCrosse, dubbed Allure in here Canada due to some Quebecois teenage slang associated with “la crosse” that didn’t sit well with GM’s executive staff (something about a specific self-gratifying behaviour and/or swindling), I was there at the automaker’s Oshawa, Ontario headquarters.
While a few of us looked at one another in disbelief as GM staffers introduced it as a totally new look for Buick, wondering what it must be like to live in a uniquely sheltered society where even the slightest modification appeared dramatic, none of us cared that the car had a different name than its US counterpart; although I shared my concern that it wouldn’t benefit as much from the marketing bleed of the brand’s US division as it could if it carried the same name. C’est la vie dans Canada, eh?
In my review of the car I compared it directly with the Camry, the segment sales leader of the day. The Allure won in every category, including expected reliability, and while I found and still find the styling a bit derivative, it’s proven to have become a very good car. I was impressed with the car, said so, and still think so.
It was a great car, and probably the most significant GM model of its era in that it ushered in a new level of quality, especially inside where its materials, fit and finish and general ambiance was a cut above almost everything the automaker had made up to that point, well, in recent years anyway, and gave me hope that the new direction that GM execs had bantered about for years leading up to its launch, was actually starting to take shape. The rest is history, with the Saturn Aura that came after winning North American Car of the Year, and the more recent Malibu following suit last year.
Now we have the 2010 LaCrosse... er... Allure. Of course, it won’t matter all that much what it’s called in either country, because GM has started to refigure something they once knew better than almost any other automaker, styling sells. Where some of us were left feeling a bit flat at the original Allure, this upcoming 2010 model, designed via a collaboration between GM’s US and Chinese operations at its new Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC), should lay such criticisms to rest. Its Invicta Concept-inspired styling, a car introduced at the 2008 Beijing Auto Show, squarely targets the traditional North American Buick buyer, who remains older than average despite inroads to younger buyers that the brand has enjoyed with its highly successful Enclave crossover while, like that Enclave it should appeal to the forty- to fifty-something crowd too.
No comments:
Post a Comment