Buick May Get a Rebadged Opel Ampera-Chevy Volt

GM needs to be careful about jumping back into the brand engineering that helped get it in trouble in the first place. Is there anybody at GM that remembers the Cimmeron debacle? Just slapping on a new grill and a couple extra amenities shouldn't equal a significant price bump.

Ford is well on its way to killing Lincoln because similar moves.

"Detroit was think with Opel Insignias" - yes, i thought this too lol

I cant stand that Buick is the new Pontiac. I'm still not sure why they picked buick between the two...the older buyers were loyal? But now they want to shift to a younger crowd? But why? Pontiac already did that. It just looks like they are getting desperate again. Should have cut out the middle man and started selling Opels here. Fresh start, less work, nicer cars.

I see badge engineering is alive and well at GM.

I remember this old Lincoln ad poking fun at GM for this type of behavior, but the only reference I can find is in wikipedia as follows "Lincoln began running a series of ads in late 1985 titled "The Valet" which depicted parking attendants having trouble distinguishing Cadillacs from lesser Buicks, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, and even Chevrolets, with the question "Is that a Cadillac?" answered by the response "No, it's an Oldsmobile (or Buick, Chevy, etc.)." At the end the owner of a Lincoln would appear with the line "The Lincoln Town Car please." The commercial saw the emergence of the new advertising line, "Lincoln. What a Luxury Car Should Be." which was used into the 1990s.[10] The mildy-revamped 1985 Town Car sold well in comparison to the newly re-styled GM vehicles that not only all looked like each other, but also too similar to lesser GM models."

Is it like 1985 all over again?

A name for the Buick Volt? Well that's easy, the Buick Electra. By the way, this was not my idea but I think it is the most appropriate name for it.

I think a better solution for GM would be to have a different type of vehicle than the Volt. Rather than a sedan, they could make a coupe for Buick. Although I'm not sure how good the coupe would look when being designed for aerodynamics.

Good grief, they never will learn.

"I remember this old Lincoln ad poking fun at GM for this type of behavior,"

ummm, lincoln MKZ, Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan anyone?

"Would you feel any different about buying a Volt if it had a Buick badge and various additional Buick-grade amenities?"

No, but if they just share the platform and make the car vastly different then that wouldn't be bad. Like the GMC Acadia, Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave. Nobody would confuse those.

I'll say it again:

Platform sharing is very good, rebadging is very bad.
If all you do is change the grill and badges it is stupid. If you build something different on the same platform that is smart.

Sometimes I'm shocked how resistant GM is to learning from its past mistakes.

As long as it doesn't look like the Volt then fine. GM has proven it can differentiate its vehicles very well.

Re-Volting = rebadging is back at GM

The ghost of the Cadillac Cimarron is haunting the Ren Cen. Why not just do the Cadillac Converj?

Ah, the Rebadge. America's favorite pastime.

"Good grief, they never will learn."

Good grief, when will people ever learn not to believe any GM related news at IL. The Ampera is identical to the Volt except for styling. A buick versions wouldnt look like either and would have its own interior and more features. People read speculaton on IL and then start reacting as if its fact uttered by GM.

"As long as it doesn't look like the Volt then fine. GM has proven it can differentiate its vehicles very well."

Exactly. Look at the renderings for the new Malibu and compare that to Regal. They share the same platform and look nothing alike. Even the lambda crossovers have different interiors and exteriors.

"No, but if they just share the platform and make the car vastly different then that wouldn't be bad. Like the GMC Acadia, Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave. Nobody would confuse those."

How could they make a Volt "vastly" different? And how much would one cost if a Volt is already waaay to much? Will this sell more than one or two at 50K? Another dumb move if they do it. And just what is the market for a 50K Buick hybrid?

bodyblue and blueguy

+1

So I guess now we know why the volt doesn't come with power seats, or HID/LED headlamps... they were saving that for the Buick to justify its existence, much like Honda will only give Acuras manually-shiftable slushboxes.

+1 to Buick Electra. Thanks pontiaksolsice.