The Buick Reatta a design flop? That's what a University of Michigan professor told The Wall Street Journal recently. Really? The Reatta is the one car that he could find to pick on as an automotive design flop? Sure, the high-tech coupe was overweight and underpowered, overpriced and under-appreciated. But a design flop? I think most of us would agree there are uglier, slower, more poorly-made cars in the history of automobiles. Our Dan Roth even called it a Future Classic not too long ago.
The story is part of a larger collection of design studies that looks at everything from blue jeans to concrete saws. One other automotive element of the series is a gushing story and video about Buick's Invicta concept car. If the piece is to be believed, the LaCrosse that may be based on the Invicta, will surely never make it onto a list of design flops.
So by that logic, fake, plastic portholes insure design success, but sexy, restrained style doesn't.
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.
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.
General Motors has been enjoying some serious success in China with its range of Buick models, and it hopes to continue that trend with the unveiling of the Invicta concept at the Auto China show in Beijing. We've already seen one teaser shot of the Invicta in profile and this newest image (on the right) gives a faint hint of the front end. We messed with the image in Photoshop to draw out some of the fascia's details, but the only thing that's really obvious is the swooping, Saab-esque headlamps and the kinked beltline originally seen in the profile shot above.
The Auto China show is right around the corner, so look for a full report in just over a week's time. Hit the jump to view the unmolested teaser.
