Buick already sells a car called the Buick Excelle in China, but up until now it has been a Korean-built car based on the Suzuki Forenza/Chevrolet Lacetti siblings. However, General Motors has been testing a Chevy Cruze-derived Excelle for about a year now.
Over the weekend, our shooters caught some photos of a prototype almost completely undisguised. Built on GM's Delta II platform, this new small Buick looks to be in development primarily for the Chinese market -- just like the first Excelle.
The question remains as to whether it has a chance to make it to the U.S. market. The pending arrival of the Opel Insignia-based Buick Regal, with only four-cylinder engines and an available manual transmission, could conceivably pave the way for an even less traditional Cruze-based model. But is that a trip too far downmarket for a Buick model in the U.S?
There's another photo after the jump.
2009 LA Auto Show: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze
stephen987 says:
08:37 AM, 11/23/09
GM has been moving toward a two-stream model for its dealer networks--one stream for Chevrolet and one for the leftovers. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Buick/GMC dealers are lobbying for an entry-level car, just as each division's dealers lobbied hard for "compacts" in the 1970s (the Pontiac Ventura/Phoenix, the Olds Omega, and the Buick Apollo/Skylark were the results)--and for entry-level "intermediates" in the 1960s (Buick Special/Skylark, Olds F85/Cutlass, Pontiac Tempest/LeMans).
Done right, this sort of thing isn't automatically a bad idea. But with too much badge engineering (think Cadillac Cimarron, Buick Skyhawk, Oldsmobile Firenza), you wind up with no clear brand identity at all, which leads in turn to convenient excuses for dismantling entire brands. I'm not sure an Excelle would be the right idea for Buick right now--but the upcoming Regal is another matter. That one has considerable potential.
xprojected says:
09:02 AM, 11/23/09
I'm sure it'll be a hit in China, but it would be a mistake for GM to grow Buick's lineup so quickly in North America. While I'm sure it would be 10x better, memories of the Skyhawk still linger.
GT5000 says:
10:12 AM, 11/23/09
It might be on the Delta platform, but it looks more like an Opel Astra sedan than a Cruze rebadge.