ˆ Maximum Bob talks about Invicta and how not to rebadge cars

tags : auto china , auto china 2008 , autochina , autochina2008 , beijing , beijing 2008 , beijing motor show , beijing2008 , beijingautoshow , beijingmotorshow , bob lutz , boblutz , buick invicta , buick invicta concept , buick lacrosse , buickinvicta , buickinvictaconcept , buicklacrosse , gm fastlane blog , gmfastlaneblog , rebadge , rebadging

GM Vice Chairman Bob "Maximum" Lutz published a new post today on the corporate GM Fastlane Blog that addresses the automaker's newest concept that debuted recently at Auto China 2008 in Beijing: the Invicta. The concept heavily hints at what the next-generation Buick LaCrosse will look like, but Bob points out that the global architecture underpinning the vehicle will be the basis of new cars for Chevy, Saab, Opel/Vauxhall and more. In the past, we would've expected those accompanying models to be rebadged versions with different grilles, headlights and taillights, but Bob explains how GM's new global platform sharing process is different than the rebadging of old. In a nutshell, he says that the money saved from sharing common platforms see will be put into making everything that customer's will see - exterior and interior design, specifically - completely different. While it's great to hear Bob talk about how GM finally "gets it" when it comes to producing common products across an empire of brands, it's something that other automakers like VW/Audi have been doing for years while the General kept feeding us "triplets" of every model it made. So kudos to GM for finally getting it, but it took 'em long enough.

posted : 5/2/2008 @2:39:45 PM

ˆ Beijing '08: Buick Invicta concept to be 4-door coupe

tags : beijing , beijing 2008 , beijing motor show , beijing2008 , beijingautoshow , beijingmotorshow , buick , buick invicta , buick invicta concept , buickinvicta , buickinvictaconcept

During a pre-Beijing Motor Show conference call today, Buick provided some more hints about the new Invicta concept that it will reveal this weekend in China. We've had a couple of teases about what to expect and won't actually be seeing any detailed images until Saturday, but what we do know now is that the Invicta (from the Latin for 'Invincible') is a four-door coupe following the current trend started by Mercedes with the sleek and sexy CLS. According to Buick designer Dave Lyons, getting a coupe to look great is easy, but the four-door layout is something that holds more market appeal. The Invicta picks up where last year's Riviera concept left off and extends that design language. It continues with what he called the "Sweep Spear" curve over the rear fender. On the inside, the cooperating design teams in Michigan and Shanghai worked to create an environment that is both functional and a reported work of art, and the driving environment is meant to impart a feeling of calm and quietness to help reduce blood pressure. Also, in spite of the low roof-line, the designers tried not to compromise rear room like in other four-door coupes. Unfortunately, at this point all we can say is, "We'll be the judge of that!" Based on the description given by GM today, the Invicta looks very promising and we will likely see hints of the next generation Lucerne in this car. But until we actually see it, it's all just hyperbole.

posted : 4/16/2008 @12:26:18 PM

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