Official: Buick unveils Riviera Coupe Concept at Shanghai

No thanks to a leak that occurred a few days ago, GM’s Shanghai worldwide surprise premier wasn’t well, that much of a surprise as we've already had the chance to get a taste of the Riviera 2+2 Coupe Concept. No doubt, the "gullwing–door" concept that was developed by GM – Shanghai’s joint Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) in China, is an impressive and elegant coupe. However, there’s also no doubt that if you take out Buick’s grille, the Riviera could easily be mistaken for a Lexus prototype. Before you check out all the details for yourself below, let us just add that PATAC designed the Buick Riviera to accommodate a new hybrid system, which will be introduced in China next year prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games.

World premiere at Auto Shanghai 2007: Buick Riviera - Stunning Coupe Concept Unveiled in Shanghai

-China-Designed Gullwing Coupe For China's Global Auto Show

-Preview To Buick's New International Design Language

-Buick Returns Riviera Nameplate After Eight Years

-"It's Not East, Not West ... It's Buick"

SHANGHAI - The Buick Riviera, a stunning concept car designed to showcase Buick's new global design direction, made its global debut today at Auto Shanghai 2007. The gullwing Riviera concept coupe was developed with global design input by the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) in China, a design and engineering joint venture between General Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC).

The Riviera was introduced today by Rick Wagoner, GM Chairman and CEO, and Hu Maoyuan, SAIC Chairman. The Riviera has been engineered to accommodate a new hybrid system that will go into production at Shanghai GM, GM's flagship joint venture with SAIC, in 2008.

The fuel-efficient car, which will feature several technological and manufacturing advances, represents the latest achievement of GM and its partners in the promotion and development of alternative propulsion technologies in China.

According to Ed Welburn, vice president, GM Global Design, "Developing and launching the Riviera in China underscores the diversity, strength and depth of the GM global design network. It also reflects PATAC's growing role within the GM Design family and China's significance as the world's largest Buick market."

The Riviera also marks the return of a renowned Buick nameplate after an eight-year hiatus, having sold more than 1.1 million units in the United States between 1963 and 1999.

The Buick Riviera, with its tightly stretched carbon fiber body panels, combination of positive and negative curves, strong front and rear identities and gullwing doors, captures the essence of Buick classics, Welburn said, while presenting a thoroughly 21st century design.

"The Riviera concept certainly lived up to the nameplate's reputation," Welburn said.

"We developed the Riviera to communicate the global design vocabulary of the Buick brand and set the stage for General Motors' design, engineering and manufacturing centers to work together on the next generation of Buick mid-size luxury cars."

According to James Shyr, PATAC Design Director, the Riviera's enticing curves and 'earth and water' interior tones are drawn from diverse inspirations including classic Buicks, ancient Chinese artifacts and modern electronic icons. The car, inside and out, communicates universal beauty - a look that transcends cultural or national boundaries.

"Designing this car made us realize how small the world could be. It's not East. It's not West. It's not the United States or China. It's Buick," Shyr said.

Exterior Design - A Sense Of Existence, Not Anonymity

To establish their design direction, PATAC designers looked in part to Buick icons such as the original Y-Job Concept of 1938, the 1960s Le Sabre, Electra 225 and the Riviera coupes of the 1960s and '70s.

The Riviera design is structured around the Buick tri-shield logo, sitting proudly on a trihedral waterfall grille which is formed by three meeting planes. This takes the traditional Buick treatment to a new level of sophisticated boldness.

The Buick logo leads into a reflective strip through the hood, a mark of respect to the distinctive mid-hood crease prevalent in classic Buicks. Elongated LED headlamps flow up the hood sides to three-section, top-mounted chrome portholes as a single piece of jewelry.

The logo, hood strip, headlamps, side mirrors and rocker covers all have 'icy green' backlighting available at night, matched by backlit logo and exhausts at the rear.

Designers have cleverly incorporated several other design signatures from the original Riviera generation. They include the "double sweep spear" line along the bodyside and the flared tail design.

"This car was inspired by great Buicks - their grace, their gesture. This car was designed to achieve a sense of existence. It's not an anonymous car when it drives past you but it's not completely in your face either. We wanted to create something which would make you want to run your hand across it rather than just look at it," Shyr said.

In this theme, the 'Shell Blue' exterior color was chosen to elicit the right level of attention. The color is a metallic silver with light blue accents, perfectly highlighting the coupe's exterior curves.

The gullwing doors, selected for their exotic appeal, achieve an expansive entrance to the two-plus-two seating configuration. Measuring 1938 millimeters at their widest point, they add to the coupe's sleek sideline. At night, fully opened doors gently shine the "Buick" name on the ground.

The use of carbon fiber in all body panels allowed the designers greater flexibility through reduced mass and added strength. This made the gullwing engineering demands easier to realize and sharp, tight radius curves possible across the body surface.

The Riviera sits on 21-inch 10-spoke forged aluminum wheels, combining polished and satin finishes, with low-profile tires. Taking their cue from Formula One cars, the side mirrors are sweeping yet unobtrusive.

PATAC designed the Buick Riviera to accommodate the new hybrid system, which will be introduced in China in 2008 prior to the Beijing Olympics. The new hybrid system fits naturally with the Riviera's 'earth and water' design theme.

Interior Design - All About Relaxation

In a word - sanctuary. The use of rich blue and subtle creams, representing earth and water themes, are conveyed through high-quality leather bucket seats, plush carpet and a luxurious padded steering wheel. Completing the organic feel, the roof comprises two shaded glass windows offering increased headroom and a celestial connection for occupants.

"We had to have the driver feel relaxed and tranquil inside the car. We used earth and water tones and avoided hard, aggressive edges," Shyr said.

The interior has no discernable start and finish point for the front and sides, creating a comfortable lounge feel. It is immediately futuristic yet somehow familiar.

The three-dimensional speedometer, inspired by past classics but utterly modern in design, compliments the touchpad styled central console loosely modeled on a computer mouse. An LCD display screen crowns the central console.

Interior designers were encouraged to consider people's personal belongings to enhance their feeling of familiarity and comfort in the vehicle. Continuing the theme of calm simplicity, electronic shifter pads replace the traditional transmission shifter. Controls are kept to a minimum to avoid driver distraction.

Ambient light strips are applied from across the console and inserted on the door liner, stretching to the front seats. Deliberately imitating precious Chinese jade stone, the lights are tinted a subtle icy green, which also offers tribute to a favored color of Buicks in days gone by.

Interior trim treatments befitting the Buick prestige abound - miniature aluminum tri-shields in the front seat headrests, a wooden floor mat in the rear and a rear central armrest which can move sideways left and right to accommodate passengers of different sizes.

Royal blue Alcantara, a soft plush covering, was chosen for the door, console and roof while sandy white leather covers the lower door, lower console and seats.

Ancient Influences In Modern Design

The design team set out to create a modern global design - not something which could be superficially described as a Chinese car. At the same time, they sought to draw from their heritage outside the automotive industry from classic shapes, concepts and artifacts. They wanted to include a subtle Chinese essence and influence if one looked deeply enough.

A strong influence was the yuanbao, a small curvaceous gold or silver ingot used in ancient China as currency and popular today as a symbol of ancient Chinese prosperity.

"This design was about the East and the West co-existing in harmony. We always wanted to make a global car, to take a sense of the Buick DNA and create something for the world," Shyr said.

"It is so wonderful that our designers can take some of the rich culture behind them and make it international. East, West, Buick, China - there's no missing piece in the puzzle in here. Riviera has captured the essence of Buick - grace, gesture, form and emotion."

Buick Riviera: Key Dimensions

Body

Body style-Coupe

Number and style of doors-Two gullwing

Seating capacity-2 + 2

Bodyshell-Carbon fiber panels

Exterior dimensions (mm)

Wheelbase-2870

Length-4710

Width-1940 (excluding mirrors)

Height-1415 (doors closed)

Front overhang-918

Rear overhang-924

Front track-1645

Rear track-1635

Buick Considering Opel Models for its U.S. Range, Including the Insignia

For those that know a thing or two about the auto industry, GM's decision to get rid of Saturn automatically meant that there was a strong possibility that the brand's current and future planned Opel-based portfolio could pass onto Buick which will remain along with Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC and most likely, Pontiac, under the umbrella of General Motors. Apparently, the same thought has crossed the minds of GM's people.

Citing inside sources from the company who asked not to be named, Bloomberg reported that General Motors officials are considering the option of expanding Buick's U.S. range which now consists of just three vehicles, the Enclave SUV, the 2010 LaCrosse and 2009 Lucerne sedans, with the Saturn Vue compact SUV (Opel Antara) and other Opel based models including the Insignia. The latter is already sold in China as the Buick Regal.

If GM goes ahead with this plan, the Insignia would find a place right under the 2010 LaCrosse in Buick's range, and yes, this could mean that we might see the Insignia OPC with its AWD system and 325HP V6 engine heading towards our way.

Another model that could make it here would be the next-generation Opel Astra that's due to be revealed at the Frankfurt Show in the fall of 2009. The subcompact model will be available in various body styles, including a five-door hatchback, a sporty, coupe-like three-door hatch, a hardtop-convertible coupe and a minivan in the form of the Zafira.

However, as good as this may sound when you read about it on blogs and news websites, we reckon that in order for this move to have a chance at success, General Motors will have to revaluate Buick's position in the group and more importantly, pour some serious cash into the marketing department so as to convince / inform buyers of the reshaping of the brand. Badge-replacing and a new waterfall grille simply won't do the trick.

My Two Dents on GM's Platform Portfolio

GM's lineup is cancerous, malignant tumors coming in the form of superfluous platforms. Some are only being used for one vehicle; what a waste. The K-platform beneath the DTS is on its death bed, as is the H-platform under the Lucerne. The Chevy Impala will soon be the last remaining car on the W-platform, and plastic surgery will do little to alleviate the pain. Why not consolidate?

Epsilon 2: The Possibilities Are Endless

The Buick guys did it right, moving the 2010 LaCrosse over to this 'bad boy'. Available all-wheel-drive and a direct injection V6? Yes, please. This is the kind of thinking that will turn Buick into the Lexus-fighter it wants to be.

If Pontiac adopted the Epsilon II, it could beef up the suspension and then we have a performance-minded AWD midsize with good fuel economy (What's that? Focused and fuel efficient?). Eventually they could even offer it with a stick, and maybe even a hybrid. Insanity! Pontiac breaking the rules and providing a fun-to-drive hybrid would really put them on the map again, giving the G8 an appropriate little brother. Now that's exciting.

While we're putting good cars on modern platforms, could we maybe stretch out Epsilon 2 for the next Impala? Absolutely. Chevy would lose its V8 options, but sacrifices must be made. The SS could even return one day in turbo V6 guise, a la the Taurus SHO. Hey, if GM wants the V8, they should use the damn Zeta platform as originally planned. This brings me to my next point.

Zeta: You Wanted It, You Built it, Now Use It

GM, while you're thinking straight: don't kill off the Buick's big daddy. Get your money's worth out of the Zeta platform by putting it under the Lucerne. Simply revise the exterior of the G8 a tad. I know at this point I am advocating the dreaded badge engineering, but in these tough times costs must be cut.

Take a look at any one of these: the Holden Statesman/Caprice ((LWB Commodore), Mid-East Chevy Lumina/Caprice, or Shanghai-GM Buick Park Avenue. If not the perfect solution, badge engineering the next Lucerne would at least refresh Buick's top model along with keeping the Pontiac-Buick relationship unique. Suspension tweaks to soften the ride, wood trim, and V6 and V8 power plants; this could be Buick's next stab at counteracting the Lexus infection.

GM, this is being as plain as possible. Do you want to get back to a state of health? That means cutting out the bad parts and helping improve the good ones that are already there. Investing hundreds of millions of dollars to have the best medicine around, and then not taking it? That's just stupid. Furthermore, why take eight old pills a day when two new ones offer the same relief? General, stop being a baby and make better use of the pills in the cabinet. Doctor's orders.

2010 Buick LaCrosse: Production Version of Invicta Concept Looks Promising

At the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit on January 12, Buick will perform the world debut its all-new LaCrosse sedan. Buick's new mid-size luxury saloon is essentially the production version of the warmly received Invicta Concept, revealed at last year's Beijing Auto Show in China. Fresh styling aside, the LaCrosse offers the option of all-wheel drive, a choice of two direct-injection V6 engines and a suite of modern personal technologies and safety features.

The 2010 LaCrosse's exterior design is the result of the combined work of GM's designers in the United States and China. While not groundbreaking or sleek in an Italian sort of way, we reckon that the LaCrosse looks stylish and different enough to grab the attention of buyers in the near-luxury segment. The cars that the LaCrosse will most likely compete with are the Lexus ES350 and the Chrysler 300.

"It is instantly recognizable as a Buick, with its signature 'sweep spear' body-side styling, portholes inside the character line on the hood, and waterfall grille," said Ed Welburn, vice president of GM Global Design.

Open the door and you're welcomed by a modern, yet somewhat unimaginative cabin characterized by a flowing design theme that wraps around the instrument and door panels. What sets the LaCrosse apart from its predecessors is the availability of an array of personal technologies. These include features such as in-dash navigation, Bluetooth connectivity, an auxiliary audio input and a USB port. For rear-seat passengers, a power rear-window sunshade and a DVD entertainment system, with two display screens integrated into the seatbacks, is also available.

Based on GM's Epsilon II front-wheel-drive platform that underpins the new Opel Insignia, the LaCrosse is roughly the same size as the car it replaces. Buyers can choose from two direct-injection V6 engines, a 3.0-liter unit generating an estimated 255 horsepower and 211 lb.-ft. of torque (286 Nm), and a 3.6L engine producing an estimated 280 horsepower and 261 lb.-ft. of torque (354 Nm). Both V6 engines are mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.

When the 2010 LaCrosse goes on sale this summer, it will be offered in three models CX, CXL and CXS. The CX will be equipped with the 3.0L V6 engine and come with premium cloth seats and 17-inch wheels. The CXL adds leather-appointed heated seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, fog lamps, outside rearview mirror with LED turn indicators and puddle lamps, 18-inch wheels as well as the option of all-wheel drive. Finally, the CXS features the more powerful 3.6L V6 unit and adds real-time active-dampening suspension; perforated, leather-appointed, heated and cooled seats, and chrome-plated 18-inch wheels (19-inch optional).