Drew Dowdell

The name doesnt have to start with A.

If you can give me the name of your old account i can see if it is still in the system.

Do you hear a jet engine noise under full throttle?

It may have passed from general consciousness, but remind people of the name and they will most likely think of the 2 generations I'm talking about.

I'm just going from personal experience on this one. Gassing up my Toronado always takes 10 minutes longer than it should because someone wants to chat about it....and often there once was a similar vintage Riviera in the family that is remembered fondly. Rivs are also the most common of this generation Ebody to show up at cruises. Eldogs never show.

Stop thinking like a "car guy" for the moment and look at the bigger market picture. To 95% of the market, say the name "Riviera" and the car they think of is more likely to be related to my car or the 93-99 model than anything from the 60's. This isn't a value judgment of either car just a truth of the market. At the same time the name is one of the most positive thought of nameplates in the Buick stable. Put these two things together and you have a lot of positive feelings out there about 2 of the 3 final generations of Riviera. A non-car guy under the age of 60 isn't going to know a 60's Riviera from a Rambler, but they *will* recognize my era one.

probably still a hoot to drive. Cheers.

I have some bad news for you, the Regal/Insignia was designed by an American. If it doesn't look "Buick" enough for you, that is because it was originally intended to be sold as a Saturn in the US.

We did a monthly run down of the sales numbers for each company, but as I've been on the road most of the last 4 months, I haven't had the chance to do it. It is rather labor intensive.

No.

Opel is Buick of Europe at this point, but they have too many models to be Buick of Europe... and they need a dealer network to pair to.

You'd be surprised how loved the 79 - 85 and 93 - 99 Rivs are. They aren't loved by (most) car guys, but every time someone wants to talk to me about my Toronado, they inevitably have an Aunt/Mother/Cousin/Sister/Grandmother who had a Riviera about the same year and "just loved that car". Yes, they were women's cars by that body... but women hold over 50% of the car market today, so that might not be a bad thing.

I don't think C&D has it entirely correct. Cadillac would not have put all the money into the XTS just to only have it on the market for 2 years.

Did you read the part about the twin turbo V6 and also having the hybrid as well (just like the S-class)?

They were trim lines... or body styles.

Why? It didn't start that way after all. Because it was FWD for most of its life. 1963 - 1978 = 15 years of RWD. 1979 - 1999 = 20 years of FWD. Most of the Riveras buyers remembers today were FWD. However, it is all moot because I believe it will be RWD.

2 to 3 months sounds extremely optimistic.

Wouldn't that create overlap? If anything a nice Omega-based Riviera could make sense. But, again, the risk of overlap is big in that option. Buick would be softer luxury, Cadillac is sport lux

Yeah, CTS is going Alpha, but that doesn't mean that Buick couldn't get its own 5-series sized flagship on Omega.

fixed.

just..... no....

A whole bunch of spots: First, in Frankfurt Airport: I have to say, the Ampera looks better than the Volt by a lot... and I like the Volt looks. Then I spotted these two for sale outside of a Pep Boys and closed Circuit City

I expect it to be RWD too even though it should be FWD.

The future big RWD platform is called Omega... and you'll likely start to hear more bits and pieces about it in the coming months.

Probably not what you mean, but the still born Chi platform was to be the replacement for the Lucerne/DTS and was based on the Lambda crossovers.