GM Kills Buick Vue SUV before it's (Re)Born after Negative Feedback

Only two weeks after announcing the rebirth of the Saturn Vue as a Buick that would also be offered as a plug-in hybrid, General Motors revealed that the compact SUV has been canned. The news was broken by GM's Vice Chairman Tom Stephens on Wednesday in a posting on the company's official blog. Stephens said that GM decided to cancel plans for the rebadged Vue after negative feedback about the vehicle from employees, potential customers, dealers, media and analysts at a recent preview in Michigan.

"The Buick crossover we showed received consistent feedback from large parts of all the audiences that it didn't fit the premium characteristics that customers have come to expect from Buick," said Stephens.

"We were all struck by the consistency of the criticism of the compact crossover. And what we decided to do in response is a good example of the essence of the new General Motors… acting quickly, and boldly, and listening to feedback from customers, employees, dealers, media and just about anyone else with an opinion."

Buick's version of the Saturn Vue was scheduled to be launched into the market with a 2.4-liter direct-injection four-pot and a 3.0-liter direct-injection V6 in late 2010, followed in 2011 by a plug-in hybrid model featuring a 3.6-liter flex-fuel V6 and two electric motors.

Stephens said that the "important" plug-in hybrid technology of the Vue would be applied to another vehicle "at no delay", with more details to be released in the very near future।

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2009 Buick Regal Mega Gallery: The Opel Insignia Heads to China

As strange and absurd as it may sound to our North American readers, the new Opel Insignia is sold in China under the Buick Regal nameplate. And how about here in the States, we hear many of you asking. Well, the Insignia was supposed to arrive in the form of the next generation Saturn Aura in a year or two, but GM's economic woes have reportedly put a hold on the U.S. market debut of the sleek looking sedan until further notice. If you want our opinion, we would have found it more rational for GM to introduce Opel's models under the Buick logo and do away with Saturn, but then again, we're no high-rank execs...

Back to the new China-only Buick Regal, the mid-size sedan differs from its German counterpart only in a few cosmetic details like the front grille, the side air vents and the exterior mirrors.

On sale now in China, the new Regal sedan is offered with two 4-cylinder petrol engines, a naturally aspirated 2.4-liter unit with 165HP and a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine producing 217HP. Both engines are matted to a standard six-speed manual gearbox with Buick announcing 0 to 100km/h (62mph) times of 9.8 and 7.8 seconds for the Regal 2.4L and 2.0T respectively.

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Chevrolet to Reveal 10 New Models, Buick and GMC another 10 through 2011

The new General Motors announced today that it is going to launch 25 brand-new models into the market by the end of 2011 including five new entries for Cadillac, 10 for Chevy while Buick and GMC will add another 10 new models. We've already told you about Cadillac's entries here, so let's concentrate on the three other brands of the "revitalized" General Motors.

Starting with Chevrolet, the brand's most important introduction is of course the Volt plug-in hybrid that's expected to achieve triple-digit fuel economy according to a new methodology used by EPA (see here). In addition to the Volt that will arrive in US showrooms in late 2010, Chevy's relaunch will be include the Spark city car, the Cruze compact-size sedan, a replacement for the Aveo and quite possibly, the Convertible version of the Camaro.

Moving on to Buick and GMC, the Detroit automaker said that the two brands will present a total of 10 new entries through 2011.

Buick's range will be enhanced with the 2010MY Buick La Crosse as well what appears to be a rebadged version of the Saturn Vue compact crossover in 2010 followed in 2011 by a plug-in hybrid variant plus two more sedans, one based on the Opel Insignia / Buick Regal (Chinese market) and the other on the Chevy Cruze / Opel Astra Delta platform.

As for GMC, aside from the new Terrain SUV that was unveiled in New York in April, it is reported that General Motors will present a smaller crossover model.

We suspect that GM will release more details on its new model portfolio later on in the year.

[Source: Carscoop]

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New Buick SUV for 2010, Plug-in Hybrid Version Debuts in 2011

General Motors will introduce a new five-passenger crossover to Buick's range in late 2010 that will be offered with a family of direct-injected gasoline engines followed in 2011 by a plug-in hybrid model that is expected to be the first mass produced SUV of its kind. If the front quarter teaser photo is anything to go by, we'd say that the yet-to-be-named Buick crossover appears to be a rebadged Saturn Vue, which makes sense since the Saturn brand will be discontinued from GM's portfolio at the end of the year (GM has agreed to sell the marque to Penske).

"Some customers who have been drawn to the Enclave were looking for something a little smaller, but they didn't want to give up craftsmanship or a quiet ride to get there," said Susan Docherty, general manager of Buick-Pontiac-GMC. "We believe this new Buick will excite those customers, and will continue to broaden the appeal of the brand."

The Buick crossover will be powered by an Ecotec 2.4-liter direct-injected four-cylinder engine with an optional 3.0-liter direct-injected V6, and according to GM, is expected to deliver 30 miles per gallon or more on the highway.

Equipped with a direct-injected 3.6-liter V6 flex-fuel engine and two-electric motors, the Buick crossover plug-in hybrid model will combine a modified version of GM's 2-Mode Hybrid system with advanced lithium-ion battery cells and charging technology derived straight from the Chevy Volt EV.

The 8 kwh lithium-ion battery that contains half the energy of the Volt battery pack will be packaged in a rectangular-shaped box under the cargo floor. GM claims that the battery can be fully recharged in four to five hours by simply connecting the vehicle to any standard 110V household electrical outlet. The automaker said that in early testing, the plug-in hybrid is capable of electric-only propulsion for more than 10 miles at low speeds.

Similar to Toyota's hybrid models, GM's 2-Mode plug-in hybrid system can use any combination of electric or gasoline engine power to move the vehicle, depending on the driving conditions.

More details on the new Buick crossover will be announced closer to the vehicle's launch date.

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GM: Volt to hit the Market as Scheduled in November 2010, One More Brand to get Plug-in Hybrid

Despite the looming bankruptcy and the other serious issues facing the company, General Motors' global product development chief, Tom Stephens told journalists on the sidelines of an event at the University of Michigan that the American automaker is on plan with the development of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid. "At this point in time, I know of no reason why we can't be in production by November of 2010," Stephens said.

Stephens, who replaced Bob Lutz as GM's vice chairman of global product development on April 1st, 2009, also told reporters that the automaker has not made a decision yet on which of the remaining three brands (Cadillac, Buick and GMC) after the axing of Pontiac and the sale of Saturn and Saab would get a vehicle based on the Volt's plug-in hybrid drivetrain.

"It's best utilized in urban vehicles," said Stephens. "We have to consider what is the usage of the person buying the vehicle. For a commuter who drives 40 miles a day and takes it shopping on weekend, it's the perfect application.".

That said, we reckon that that one of the most obvious and less inexpensive options in terms of development costs would be a Buick model based on the small sedan that the company is currently working on as it uses the same Delta platform as the Volt (as well as the new Astra and Chevy Cruze).

Carscoop's spy photographers recently captured a camouflaged prototype of the Astra/Cruze/Volt-based small sedan during testing in Germany, however it's not clear if the sedan is designed only for the Chinese market or if it will also head to the States.

Via: Autonews (Sub. Req.)

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