ORIGINAL: 1 Bad Mirada
i agree...and see what you mean..if you look at the caddy lineup from say, 15 years ago...there is no way in hell i would consider one, unless i was taking a new job as a pimp...but now, caddy does make some nice sporty luxury sedans. however, my 92 5 series was probably of better quality then a 2007 caddy.
i was thinking about this a little more, and it seems that so many car companies are settling into a niche, and they dont often stray out of that niche...buicks niche is old people and slow, boring cars...i would be very, very surprised to see a grand national pop up.
Yes that is my point. Caddies of 15 years ago appealed to two crowds, wealthy old men and pimps
. Although Caddy's quality is far below BMW's quality, the factor is that they can now be considered in the same category regardless that they are one of the weakest contender in that category. It is better to be a weak contender in the sporty luxury sedans than be a strong contender in plain luxury sedans (cough Lincoln). The sporty luxury opens the market to a younger crowd. Frankly, a 92 BMW might be higher quality than a current BMW.
Chrysler used to be more of a senior citizen division, now it appeals to audiences of all age (although they are starting to head back to the senior citizen market). The problem that GM currently has is they need a division to compete against Toyota and Honda. That is where their weak link is at. They have a successful budget division (Chevrolet), a successful performance division (Pontiac), and a somewhat successful luxury division (Caddy), but what they need is a upscale/near-luxury division to compete in that market.
Although the Saturn Aura is a nice car, it isn't catching on because of the division. It is more difficult to reposition a division more upscale than to move a market down. I believe that if they would offer the cars to Buick that they are going to be offering in Saturn, I believe they would sell better. The reason why is Saturn unfortuneatly has a weak niche market. Although it is an import competitor, it is more of a lower level Japanese competitor like Suzuki. I believe if they would sell it in Buick it would stand a better chance of catching on. It better fits the Buick market than the Saturn market.
The reason why I hold this theory is the Aura was shown to focus group. It was initally rated 5 out of 5 in just about every category (desireability, style, performance, etc.), then when they informed the people that it was a Saturn that was cut in half. Saturn has a very negative image with it, this means they should have badged it under a different division. The problem is which one would the formula work it. It won't work in Chevrolet, their image is too cheap to appeal to even be considered by the right crowd. They can't do it under Pontiac, it would damage their performance image and the near-luxury appeal would be lost in the Pontiac marketing. They can't do it in Cadillac, it isn't nice enough to be a Caddy, it would be a repeat of the mistake of the Catera. They can't use any of their import brands such as Saab. It won't sell enough of them. The only two divisions this car could work under are Buick and Oldsmobile, and the later is dead.
Although the Sky is doing well in sales, it really didn't matter what division they sold it under. It is just plain a sweet car. The problem though is that they are trying to sell it at a higher price than the Solstice since the Sky is supposed to be superior. We have already found that Saturn has a more negative image than Saturn. The Sky has more potiential of improving the image of Buick than Saturn. The sporty coupe would really help out Buick's senior citizen image more than Saturn's import image, plus Buick has a wider spread of dealerships than Saturn.
If Buick would offer the GNX again, along with the more attractive offerings from Saturn, they