Maybe I’m getting old, but occasionally I find myself internally ranting about something I’ve read or seen online:
This is part of Buick’s plan to be “all electric” by 2030.
And yeah…anyone who knows me, knows that the Wildcat was a badge near and dear to me. My folks owned a ’65 Wildcat sedan back in the day, and it was probably my mother’s favorite car of all of those we’d ever owned. “It has a lot of pep,” she’d always say.
Buick has long squandered good nameplates. The Wildcat designation went away in 1971, and it’s only a guess that the Centurion model is what replaced it–it certainly looked no different, other than minor trim pieces, from the dumpy Le Sabre and Electra models. (And dumpy they were–the ’71 Le Sabre we had was constantly breaking down or running poorly. Later in life, it took on Fred Flintstone characteristics in that if it quit running, you could reach the pavement from the passenger’s seat without getting out of the car.)
Wildcat came back as a prototype sports car that never materialized; sort of in the same spirit, but the Wildcat was always the “banker’s hot rod” version of a big-body Buick. And I had even seen a lame late-model Century for sale that had a “Wildcat edition” badge on it…typical of GM, this was badge engineering at its worst.
Buick also missed a huge opportunity to revive the Wildcat, back when GM was selling Holden Commodores under the Caprice, SS, and Pontiac G8 badges. With the right “ferocity” in styling, the Wildcat could have ended up being the hit of the US Holden rebadgings. What, Buick a performance company? Don’t forget, Buick gave us the Grand National and GNX which, at the time, was faster than the Corvette, old-man styling aside. (The ultimate factory sleeper, in other words.)
While I don’t have a problem per se with Buick reviving it for an electric vehicle, once again it seems to be assigned to an over-the-top prototype that will never see production as a “go-fast” Buick. I also take issue with the ideas that GM has with all these “zen” features inside. No, I don’t need my car interior to be a “zen” environment–just give me simple, basic operations. You know, knobs, buttons and levers rather than walls of touchscreens that are finicky to use and often impossible to tap while driving.
GM, once again, has no clue as to what the average car buyer needs in a car. And with Buick traditionally being skewed towards older buyers (since, what, the malaise era?), nothing will slow adoption of EVs more than walls of screen that older and/or non-tech-savvy buyers will find confusing and frustrating to operate.
Tacking the Wildcat name onto this abomination only adds insult to injury.
And in an era where Americans seemingly want only crossovers, SUVs and pickup trucks (look at how the “Big 3” have largely abandoned sedans and coupes), what’s the logic in introducing a sedan?
The video also highlights a new Buick logo. Thankfully it still preserves the tri-shield logo, and didn’t echo Chrysler’s major fiasco in dumping one of the automotive world’s most recognizable and iconic logos–the pentastar–for…what? I bet nobody but a Chrysler owner could define what Chrysler’s logo is these days.
Buick is also looking at reviving the Electra name for their electric offerings, a name they never should have abandoned in the first place. Electra 225 just sounded elegant–it was always the most luxurious Buick model, some even sporting small “fins” atop the rear fenders. Same with Le Sabre–it was the dressed-down sedan you could buy if you couldn’t afford the Electra. (And lest we forget, the original Le Sabre concept was a sports car that rivaled the Corvette.)
Electra confusingly morphed from a trim level (Park Avenue) to a model of its own. And once that ran its course, we got the confusingly similar LaCrosse and Lucerne names, which did nothing to stop the torrent of seniors clamoring for their next LeSabres. Similarly, why would you name all of your crossovers with names beginning with the letters “En”? Envision, Encore, Enclave…seriously? It’s as bad as car models using letter/number combinations as names.
All of this makes Buick and GM seem out of touch with the public they’re hoping to win back from the competition. No offense to the automotive press, but this seems to be the only audience they are impressing. Regular car buyers, like myself, only shake our heads, wondering how we got to this point…