GM Announces Name of New Buick Sedan, and It's the...

^Agreed, and Regal is a unique and very interesting name. Much better than alphabet soup that the Germans made so popular.

is the LaCrosse considered a full sized sedan?

we are getting the same car. This has been known for a while.

That's a good looking car, at least from the side angle. I do like the LaCross as well. I like where Buick's styling is going.

Good looking car.

I agree that a real name is nice. I think Lincoln is making a mistake by going to MK whatever. American cars are not foreign and should have names. Cadillac sounds stupid with all of the CT DT etc. What happened to great names like ElDorado....Continental....Riviera...Toronado...Fury..Monaco......Cutlass.? All great names. Regal is a nice name but Lucern is a brand of dairy products sold on the West coast and sounds funny to me.

if you check out pics of the Insignia you will see what we are getting. Only question is powertrain options. The Opel has a 255hp 2.8L turbo, 2L turbo and turbo diesels. In China this car has the 2L turbo making over 200hp- I think its 211- but no V6.

I like the style, the straight line down the side is much better than the curvy line on the Lacrosse. As for the name, it may have some recognition, but I see buyers associating a new company more with new cars that speak for themselves.

So will this slot under the LaCrosse?

1487 do you really care about Opel powertrains..in or out of China? I doubt that many do.

It's not "Regal" that has the negative connotation with US buyers, its "Buick".

I think GM is right, Regal is an established model name, Buick has been such a annemic seller that not many people had the opportunity to hate a Regal, so why not re0use the name.

"1487 do you really care about Opel powertrains..in or out of China? I doubt that many do."

I have no idea what you are talking about. Big shock. I was saying its unknown what engines will come to America. Not sure why you are confused because it was a simple statement. I can tell you I don't really care about your posts though.

This car is likely to share at least one powertrain with the Insignia/Chinese Regal.

Well after all Buick without a Regal is like GM without an Oldsmobile...oh wait...is like a GM without a Saturn...uh oh, ok I got it, is like a GM without a Pontiac...DAMN! Nevermind.

Good choice boys! Hey maybe we can slap a Buick badge on the Astra and call it a Somerset Regal! I think that would be a runaway hit. Oh wait...Saturn tried that already...DAMN! Nevermind.

I would be more proud to say "I drive a Regal" than some anonymous alphabet soup name that could be a Cadillac, Acura, MB, Lincoln or Lexus. People would immediately know that it's a Buick. For better or worse.
I thought the Lacrosse is based on the Opal Insignia platform as well. Is Buick going to have two cars based on the same frame again? (Regal/Century)

""1487 do you really care about Opel powertrains..in or out of China? I doubt that many do."

I have no idea what you are talking about. Big shock. I was saying its unknown what engines will come to America. Not sure why you are confused because it was a simple statement. I can tell you I don't really care about your posts though.

This car is likely to share at least one powertrain with the Insignia/Chinese Regal. "

I was just wondering how much of your day you spend researching Opel powertrains. Oh and if you dont care about my posts then why respond? :) Thats ok dont answer.....you just cant help yourself.

@altimadude00:
Yes, both Lacrosse & Insignia/Regal share a "platform". Lacrosse has a longer wheelbase, thus more rear seat room.
No big deal, this, as long as the vehicles look different & are priced different. Toyota does the same with Camry & Avalon.
Agree with the real name versus alphanumeric crapola.

rlg86--OK, thanks for the info. I don't have a problem with GM using the same platform for two cars, as long as it's a good one. I was just momentarily confused because I thought I remembered Buick having a Cruze-based car in China, and I thought this was it.

"I was just wondering how much of your day you spend researching Opel powertrains."

What are you talking about? I looked at Insignia specs a few months back and saw all the engine choices in Europe. I was trying to guess which of those engines will come to the US. No need to take up the mantle of the faithful opposition everytime I post.

rlg86:

One of the best things about this car is it will weigh less than the Lacrosse. Insignia has a weight range of 3300-3900lbs but the heaviest car is the OPC model with AWD, huge wheels and the turbo V6. I would think a FWD Regal would be about 3500-3600lbs which will make it quite a bit quicker than the Lacrosse. I can only assume the 2.4L engine would be standard.

Sounds good to me. Buick should capitalize on its reputation for relaxed cruising and offer the Regal with a big, quiet, torquey V6. Leave high performance to the Chevy brand and let Buick be Buick. This is a formula that works well on the new LaCrosse and Enclave.

"American cars are not foreign and should have names. Cadillac sounds stupid with all of the CT DT "

It's not stupid as it's actually for marketing/image purposes. Alphanumeric designations tend to draw more focus to the BRAND while dedicated names tend to draw more focus on that particular model.

I think it's a great idea. There have been lots of really good regals over the years and they should capitalize on that.

Alphanumeric seems to work well for Germans but for American and Japanese brands it alway came across as lame and forced.

What does the Regal compete with directly? Cars like the VW Passat and Acura TSX or something esle?

Honda, I said it SOUNDS stupid I should have typed (to me). If you are trying to hide your brand I guess you are right. :)

I would rather they name it the Buick Rugby, so it fits into the model line with the LaCrosse. They can follow those with the Buick Field Hockey, and the Buick Ultimate Frisbee.

rear end of that car looks like the Acura TL (which is not good).

the question is, can this live up to past regal standards? if this car doesn't entice buyers to get it in metallic teal, then raise the suspension to squeeze 22 inch rims underneath, get paste-on window tint at the flea market, and a subwoofer so big that you can actually hear how cheaply the car was put together as the bass line bumps, well then... i'm sorry, but this isn't a buick regal. it's just another buick masturbator.

I'm fine with the Regal name. It looks like a great car, but the back end is too TL ish.

Going with the Regal name... I'd love to see that mean it would have RWD with the Commodore underpinnings and perhaps the G8 coupe we never had? Drop a turbo 3.6L DI engine and a six speed manual or automatic into it and the new Grand National would be born... and yes, I am aware that the original GN was only automatic. Heck, to me the GN name has enough cache they could probably drop an LS3 into it ala the Camaro, but more cushy and people would still go for it. Considering GM already has a G8 coupe in the Camaro, probably shouldn't take all that long to produce, too.

Pipe dream, I know...

Regal is a good name with an overall good heritage, particularly from the Grand National and T-Type days. Too bad this car's not going to be RWD, but the styling does look pretty good.

Dropping real car names in favor of the alphanumeric ones has gone too far, with the effect of making most of the names near meaningless and confusing to many consumers. With the Europeans, it's traditional with certain makes and can have a good rationale to it. But did the Asian and American manufacturers have to start doing it for virtually all of their products? I have totally stopped caring what the difference is between Lincoln MKX and MKZ, and which one is which. When everyone is doing the same thing because everyone else is supposedly doing it, it just further blurs the distinctions between competing products. Why always follow the crowd? A product can also stand out by being what everyone else is *not*.

Toothpaste marketing has infected the marketing departments of seemingly the entire industry. The term "brand" never existed in the car industry until some time in the '90s. I recall when Honda/Acura dropped the name Legend because although it was a well known and established model name, not enough potential customers knew it was made by Acura. So - they threw out Legend and replaced it with RL. Lame. Why throw out the goodwill in a name to start completely over, when they could have kept Legend while further emphasizing Acura? And although knowing who Acura was may have also been desirable, did it really matter that a customer wanted a Legend and didn't know it was an Acura? They were still buying the car, which is the goal, isn't it? Or if they didn't know which dealer to go to to buy one, it's not like they couldn't have figured it out, when there was also an Acura nameplate on the car.

Okay...this post said absolutely nothing new. We were all pretty sure the new Buick would be called the Regal. And we did know for sure the vehicle shown above would be the car coming to the states. So...good job Ed.

I agree that the Alphabet soup isn't the right move for American companies. Though I feel that if Buick wants to create a "new" Buick then they must ditch almost all of their past. They should use names but new ones. I personally feel that LaCrosse, Lucern and such are much better names than Park Avenue and Regal. Anything that makes me think of Buick from before 2004 is not going to help Buick seem any 'younger' in my eyes.

"What does the Regal compete with directly? Cars like the VW Passat and Acura TSX or something esle?"

Upper levels of Camry, Accord and Altima as well as TSX. Those would be the targets. The Lacrosse starts at $28k so I would think this will be about $25k and come with more standard equipment than Malibu. Basically, this is like a preview of the next generation Malibu with Buick/Opel styling. The interior on this car is far better than any $30k Camry or Accord.

I think Regal works. I guess that it was that, or Century, right? That car LOOKS really good. Maybe I was wrong about the whole Buick versus Pontiac thing. I guess time will tell, but I think that I will miss Pontiac more than I would have Buick. Plus I still think that Pontiac had more positive name recognition (read: instantaneous sales potential).

zoom:

Buick was saved because of China, period. Gm was not going to keep Pontiac here and Buick in China- too expensive. Since the Chinese market is soon going to be permanently larger than ours and Buick is a top brand there it was a no brainer to keep Buick. The Lacrosse and Regal will exist in both markets with minimal changes. They may share a compact model as well. Pontiac has zero presence outside of NA and was reliant on fleet sales for much of its volume.