Click the links below to view 2 articles from the latest Motor Trend Magazine.  The new 2011 Buick Regal made the feature article for the first time in 28 years!  We hope to be recieving our first Regal in the next couple months.  More info coming!

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/sedans/112_

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/sedans/112_1004_

GMC Granite aims at the Scion set

Rick Kranz

Automotive News

DETROIT — As the auto industry de-emphasizes size in SUVs, GMC hopes to attract a new demographic with its

Granite concept.

The Granite is aimed at young, urban buyers who never would consider a big GMC Yukon SUV. Dave Lyon, executive director of North American interior and global cross-brand design, calls the concept “radically different” and “something that would redefine GMC to a totally different customer.”

The Granite is also possibly GMC’s effort to reach buyers of Toyota Motor Corp.’s youthful Scion brand vehicles.

Like Scion’s products, the Granite has a unique design. It is low and more vanlike than a crossover and more than

a foot shorter than a Chevrolet HHR.

Two design elements stand out.

1. A wide opening on the side of the vehicle provides as much functionality for loading cargo as the entry through

the rear hatch. The B-pillar is absent, and Dutch doors create a wide entry when they are open.

2. A reconfigurable interior has seats that pivot up and toward the console. With the seats up, “you can get a

bicycle in that space without having to take the front tire off,” said Lyon. With tight parking spaces in large cities,

the side entry “is how most people would access the vehicle,” he said.

The concept is powered by a turbocharged, 1.4-liter engine matched with a six-speed automatic transmission..

Lyon declined to say whether a production model of the Granite is planned.

He also would not say what front-drive platform was used for the concept, but industry sources say it is General

Motors Co.’s new global compact vehicle platform. That platform is used for the Chevrolet Cruze that is sold

outside of North America and for a Buick sedan expected in 2011. The North American version of the Cruze goes

on sale late this year.

GMC’s square-backed Granite  concept, a foot shorter than the Chevrolet HHR, reflects an effort by the brand to

broaden its customer base.

THE 2011 REGAL: A BUICK BRED ON THE AUTOBAHN

Sport Sedan Blends Sleek Design with European Road Manners for Great Driving

QUICK FACTS

• A new midsize Buick sport sedan with a European-bred driving experience

• On sale in the second quarter of 2010

• Based on the award-winning Opel Insignia and available now as a Regal in China

• Modern, sleek design with great attention to detail and excellent build quality

• Efficient, four-cylinder/six-speed powertrain with 30 mpg (est).

• Turbocharged model available in summer 2010

• Driver-selectable Interactive Drive Control System available in summer 2010

• Available rear-seat thorax air bags

• Standard 18-inch wheels, leather and heated front seats, XM Satellite Radio,

BlueTooth and OnStar.

LOS ANGELES – On Thursday Buick will reveal the 2011 Regal sport sedan to

customers in the L.A. area. Armed with turbocharged horsepower, a driver-selectable

suspension system and a firm, European-tuned chassis, it delivers a driving experience

rivals the best import sport sedans in the segment.

“The 2011 Buick Regal is like nothing you’ve ever experienced from this brand,” said

Susan Docherty, general manager of Buick GMC. “The Regal is the next chapter in

Buick’s transformation and will expand the portfolio to include a sport sedan.”

The new Regal arrives in the second quarter of 2010, with its sights aimed squarely on

competitors like the Acura TSX and Volvo S60. It has a longer wheelbase and greater

trunk volume than those vehicles, along with standard features, including a six-speed

automatic transmission, 18-inch wheels and OnStar, that aren’t offered standard on

either competitor.

The Regal’s development is rooted in Germany where the globally led engineering team

created the award winning Opel Insignia – European Car of the Year. The Insignia has

garnered more than 31 prestigious awards and is the best selling midsize sedan in

Europe. Regal will bring all of Insignia’s award-winning design, technology and

European-inspired performance capabilities to the American market.

The Regal has already been a success on another continent, in China. It went on sale in

December 2008 and more than 64,000 Regals have been sold there. Enthusiastic

customers cite its sculpted, flowing design and responsive performance as the top

reasons for purchase.

Reprint from The Detroit News.  This car is going to be a very hot seller!

Buick Regal driving back into U.S. showrooms

Scott Burgess / The Detroit News

The Buick Regal will return to the U.S. next year, General Motors Co. confirmed today.

The mid-size sport sedan, based on the Opel Insignia, will arrive next year as a 2011 model. It should be available in the second quarter of 2010, Buick spokeswoman Dayna Hart said.

The sedan will be introduced later this year, Hart said, and will include a “sleek design and personal technologies at an unexpected low price.”

If shown this year, it’s likely that GM will debut the U.S. Buick Regal at the Los Angeles Auto Show, the only remaining major car show this year.

Susan Docherty, Buick GMC general manager and recently named vice president of U.S. sales, told dealers this week, “The transformation of Buick began with our luxury crossover, the Buick Enclave, and continued this year with the launch of the 2010 LaCrosse premium sedan,” according to a news release.. “We’re thrilled to announce that the Regal will be the next member of the Buick family.”

Buick has struggled in recent years, often considered a brand for old people. However, the crossover Enclave cut a new trail for the brand, attracting much younger customers to showrooms. The 2010 LaCrosse, Buick hopes, will blaze a similar trail. The smaller-sized Regal could have an even broader appeal.

The Regal nameplate was discontinued in the United States six years ago, but was revived for China, where the Buick brand remains popular.

If based on the Insignia, the Regal should include a taut suspension for sporty driving and four- and six-cylinder offerings. However, GM will not confirm specific details about the car. The five-passenger sedan will be an alternative mid-size vehicle that will compete against the likes of the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Ford Fusion.

A glowing review on the New LaCrosse from Dan Neil, who historically, has not been a “domestic friendly” auto writer. 

By Dan Neil
Aug. 7, 2009

Fighter pilots call it “target fixation” when you become so focused on a single adversary that you lose situational awareness and fly into something large and obvious, like the ground. Buick’s 2010 LaCrosse — a near-luxury, mid-size-to-large sedan — was built to put the cross-hairs on a single bogie, the Lexus ES350, and I’ll tell you right now, it blows the Lexus out of the sky. Pow. Parachute. Smoking crater.

Oh, you can quibble over one detail or another. The LaCrosse’s roof A-pillars are huge and make it hard to look through a corner on a tight, two-lane road (it’s also possible to lose sight of pedestrians in crosswalks). There are moments that the cabin, with its Aqua Velva-blue ambient lighting, thick chrome instrument bezels, luminous LCD screens and spread of glowing buttons, looks like the flight deck of some drug- addled dirigible.

But no fair appraisal of this car can conclude anything but that the Buick is as good as or better than the Lexus in every way: It’s as dead quiet, as thoughtfully designed, as this-minute in its technology. My top-of-the-line CXS had a 3.6-liter direct-injection V-6 under the scalloped hood, a six-speed Aisin automatic transmission, continuously variable suspension damping with Sport mode, Harman/Kardon sound system, touch-screen navigation and adaptive headlamps. Out the door at $39,195.

And yet with all of the semiconductor circuitry, servos, gadgets and displays, the LaCrosse feels deeply, foundationally sound. All is hushed and serene. Everything is damped. The whole car feels packed in ermine. It is an American Lexus.

But is that enough? In other words, has benchmarking the ES350 — Lexus’ bestselling sedan, by the way — left the LaCrosse blind to challenges from other competitors in this segment? After all, the ES350 is a tarted-up Toyota Camry and enjoys its place in the market primarily because of the aspirational updraft of the Lexus brand. Personally, the ES350 bores me like nothing since “The Fountainhead.”

How does the Buick stack up against, say, the Hyundai Genesis or the Infiniti G37 sedan, both finely tailored, tech-sodden sedans with rear-wheel drive? What about the brilliantly executed Acura TL, with its torque-vectoring all-wheel drive? The competition among near-luxury, mid-size sedans makes a Cuban cockfight look tame.

Born in a blizzard of pink slips and a tsunami of tears, the Buick LaCrosse — the first new car launched by GM since it emerged from bankruptcy — has to be more than on par with some middling Lexus. It has to be fantastic.

This is a brand in a hole the size of AIG’s. Not only is Buick synonymous with “Matlock”-watching crapulence (the average age of a Buick buyer is 68); the parent company, GM, is feeling the unaccustomed disdain of Red State America on account of the Obama administration’s $83.5-billion auto-industry bailout.

I have not got a single e-mail from anyone saying, “You know, I love and support my country, so I’m going to buy a GM car.” But I’ve got maybe 100 e-mails that say, in effect, “I’ll never buy a GM car until the government gets out of the car business.”

Is the LaCrosse enough of a car for them to hold their noses past the stink of bankruptcy and the reek of government ownership? It’s a pretty great car, but honestly, I think the LaCrosse would have to come equipped with naked wood nymphs to placate these dissidents.

Time for some shopkeeping: The base LaCrosse ($27,835, delivered) is powered by a 3.0-liter direct-injection V-6 good for 255 hp. The up-level trim package is the CXL ($30,395). Add all-wheel-drive (with brake-based limited-slip differential) and the price goes to $32,600. The top-shelf model is the CXS ($33,765), with a 3.6-liter V-6 putting out 280 hp. The Touring Package adds 19-inch wheels and variable-damping suspension and Sport mode, with electronics that put a sharper edge on the transmission, steering, throttle and suspension responses.

Daringly, Buick will offer a 2.4-liter four-cylinder (172 hp/182 pound-feet of torque) in the LaCrosse this fall. That will be just about when gas prices will spike again, I predict.

Some have wondered why GM kept the Buick division and shed Saturn, which has the freshest and most fuel-efficient product lineup. The answer: China. Buick is a prestigious luxury brand there and, in fact, the new LaCrosse was a joint effort between GM’s American and Chinese design studios. The Chinese contingent was responsible for the LaCrosse’s insanely fussed-over interior. Example: The dash material is synthetic leather but it’s French stitched with real thread.

No corners are gracelessly cut here — no ugly cover plates, no exposed fastener buttons and the barest minimum of seams. The whole transverse sweep of the cabin, the two-tone materials bisected by a lyric bow of ambient lighting and wood grain that plays into the doors, looks great, especially at night.

GM execs claim the cabin reflects feng shui design principles in its sculpted and harmonious form language, though I might have expected a red door somewhere. In any event, the interior is excellent. I parked the LaCrosse next to a new Lexus to compare and it wasn’t even close.

Style aside, the biggest marker of Chinese influence is the car’s enormous back seat. According to GM, about 25% of Chinese buyers — entrepreneurs and corrupt bureaucrats — will be chauffeured. If legroom is high on cross-shoppers’ list, the LaCrosse will score a clean kill.

Complaints, I had a few. The exterior styling is really strong — masculine, well planted, with a lovely roof arch — in every direction but the front. I can’t quite fathom the headlight design, which looks like Dame Edna’s spectacles, and the odd chamfering of the hood, a design detail that doesn’t seem to go anywhere.

And the car is about 250 pounds heavier than it ought to be, a fact that robs the LaCrosse of some much-needed verve and agility.

The CXS gets off the mark smoothly, and it hits 60 mph in about 7.5 seconds — reasonably quick — but the extra weight doesn’t help it in corners and there is the inevitable tendency of a front-drive car to overwhelm the tires and understeer.

I look forward to trying the all-wheel-drive model. To say the LaCrosse handles better than the ES350 is the damnedest of faint praise.

The weight is telling because weight is the most expensive thing to get out of a car. I read the poundage as an artifact of the pre-bankruptcy GM — indeed, a metaphor of the company before bankruptcy’s radical dieting.

Still, the LaCrosse is the car that most thought couldn’t be built by Buick. It’s actually desirable. On the long road to recovery, it’s a good start.

This is a reprint from one of our salesman’s customer newsletters.  Thanks Norm Wiegand!

The “Cash For Clunkers” program has concluded and in its’ wake I have fielded many questions about the program. In my 14+ years of selling cars I have never participated in anything that had customers so intrigued! The idea of getting several times what an old vehicle is worth made a deal too good to pass up. Most of the “Clunkers” that were exchanged for vouchers are still on dealers’ lots waiting for funding from the U.S. government. These vehicles or any of their parts cannot be sold to anyone except authorized scrap yards. Once the government funds a voucher dealers must destroy the engine. The scrap yard then claims it and takes it be recycled.

As you may have noticed most dealers are very low on new and used inventory. “Cash For Clunkers” has had some interesting affects on used vehicle values. Used car lots are empty since most new vehicles sold in the last few months have not generated a sellable trade in . New car inventory is also very low due to the program. Dealers are out in droves trying to buy vehicles for their used car inventory and this is making prices soar! Now is a great time to trade a late model vehicle!

The redesigned 2010 Buick Lacrosse will begin coming to the dealership sometime this summer.  It is an amazing vehicle with stunning interior and exterior styling.

The LaCrosse is instantly recognizable as a Buick, with portholes inside the character line on the hood and what GM calls Buick’s waterfall grille.

We’ve only seen a show car, but the interior is stunning. A flowing, uninterrupted design wraps around the instrument and door panels. GM sweated the details inside with nicely assembled, high-quality materials (wood, leather and chrome) and cool blue ambient lighting.

The car will be offered in three models: CX, CXL and CXS.

The CX is equipped with a new 3.0-liter direct-injection V6 producing 255 hp and 211 lb-ft of torque and is mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.

The CXL level adds heated leather seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, fog lamps and turn indicators in the mirrors and is available with all-wheel drive.

The high-end CXS gets a 3.6-liter direct-injection V6 good for 280 hp and 261 lb-ft of torque. The CXS is equipped with real-time active-dampening suspension, heated and cooled leather seats and chrome-plated 18-inch wheels. Nineteen-inch wheels are optional.

Lighthouse Automotive is your Peoria area Buick Dealer.  Come see us today to inquire about the new Lacrosse, as well as Buick’s other great vehicles.