Buick Has its LaCrosse to Bear

The big lesson learned by General Motors is speed, says Buick boss Susan Docherty.

It’s the biggest automotive brand in China.  Here at home, it’s barely an asterisk on the sales charts.  Do Chinese consumers know something that American auto buyers don’t?

Buick is betting they do, and hopes to increase awareness in the U.S., a critical step considering its one of only four surviving brands now that General Motors has emerged from bankruptcy.

There are a sizable number of American motorists “for whom Buick is not relevant,” concedes the brand’s general manager, Susan Docherty, during a conversation with TheDetroitBureau.com.  The general perception, she admits, is that of a brand for old folks, not for the affluent, youthful and hip.

That’s a far cry from Buick’s early days, under the legendary GM Chairman Alfred P. Sloan, who positioned the brand as a mere step below Cadillac.  Ironically, it still has much that reputation in China.  In fact, Buick has sold more vehicles in the emerging Asian market than it has in the States for several years.  That’s one reason why the brand was maintained, while others, including Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn, are either being dropped or sold off.

From Detroit to Beijing, the Voice of the Automotive World!

But there isn’t much left of Buick, which has seen domestic sales fall from more than half a million — 546,836, to be precise – as recently as 1994, to just 137,197 last year.  For the first half of 2009, volume is down to 47,223, meaning full-year numbers could slip below the 100,000 mark, unless there’s a turnaround.

With GM now focusing on four core brands, it can no longer afford to allow Buick to continue withering away in the U.S.  But there are signs it can pull off a turnaround.  The big Enclave crossover turned into a surprise success story, winning a number of awards and drawing in the youngest and most affluent buyers in the Buick brand – more along the lines of upscale imports.

“We’ve initiated a renaissance that is well underway,” contends Docherty, “and the second chapter begins with LaCrosse.”

The name may be familiar, but the sedan coming out later this year is a far cry from the old LaCrosse four door.  In fact, it was primarily designed for the demanding Chinese market, where it first made a heavily disguised appearance at the 2007 Shanghai Motor Show, there dubbed the Riviera concept.

On the whole, Buick faces the same challenges as the rest of the remaining GM brands.  A large portion of the American car buying population has effectively written off General Motors, so says Docherty, “We’re going to have to go back and win consumers’ trust, not just in our products but in the core company.  We don’t have any illusions this is easy.  This is hard work.”

GM will be tested rather quickly, with six new products hitting showrooms in the next 90 days alone, here in the U.S., Docherty notes.  That ranges from the Chevrolet Equinox to the GMC Terrain, compact crossovers targeting one of the few real growth segments in the American market.  Originally, Buick was to be paired with Pontiac and GMC, post-bankruptcy, but under pressure from the Obama Administration, which is kicking in $50 billion to prop up GM, Pontiac was abandoned.

There are plenty of skeptics who question Buick’s viability, indeed, the potential GM overall.  Like other seemingly humbled General Motors executives, Docherty concedes the company has a lot to prove, but she also insists that it has learned a lot in recent months.  There was a lot accomplished since the automaker went begging for a federal bailout, late last year, and achieved fast.

“One thing that’s changed in my world is moving with speed,” says Docherty, adding that, “In the past, our company was data-rich but insight-poor.  The quick insights we’re now getting are culturally new here.  But I believe this will be a part of GM from now on.”

It will need to be.  GM doesn’t have any way to fall back if it doesn’t get its competitive house in order, this time.  With the most to prove among the company’s four surviving brands, Buick will be the real test of whether things truly have changed.

For a closer look at the LaCrosse ad campaign, read this week’s edition of Marty’s Marketing Minutia.