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Buick unveils Cascada convertible, and stunning 4-door concept tonight in Detroit


adoldfield

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Buick unveiled Cascada, its first convertible in 25 years tonight in Detroit, plus a stunning 4-door concept called Avenir.

Cascada is a 2+2 four seat droptop with 200 hp standard turbocharged engine. You can lower the top at speeds up to 31 mph! It will be in showrooms in early 2016.

Avenir is a gorgeous 4 door concept to show design language we will see in future Buicks.

I am unable to upload my photos tonight...while I work on that, here are links to GM website with info on each:

Avenir:

http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2015/Jan/naias/buick/0111-avenir-concept.html

Cascada:

http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2015/Jan/naias/buick/0111-cascada-2016.html

Alan Oldfield

BCA# 15140

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Guest AlCapone

If it is made in China it will have a mammoth image problem to overcome. In my opinion, more so than ever before Americans want a product that creates American jobs, and rightly so !

Wayne

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If it is made in China it will have a mammoth image problem to overcome. In my opinion, more so than ever before Americans want a product that creates American jobs, and rightly so !

Wayne

No argument for sure, Wayne, and I doubt I would ever buy a China-made Buick.

However, I've also heard that Buicks are HUGE sellers in China, so can only guess there must be some cold, hard business decisions being made on this one...

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-chinese-buyers-love-buick-2013-4

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Guest AlCapone

Two points to be made. Our servicemen and ex servicemen did not put their lives on the line to watch our jobs go to a communist country and we should respect that as should General Motors.

Secondly the vast majority of Chinese are still working for enough rice to feed their families. Not all but a large majority !

Wayne

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No argument for sure, Wayne, and I doubt I would ever buy a China-made Buick.

However, I've also heard that Buicks are HUGE sellers in China, so can only guess there must be some cold, hard business decisions being made on this one...

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-chinese-buyers-love-buick-2013-4

If it was not for the love of Buick in China I believe Buick would be closing their doors. Never-the-less, the car should be built in the USA IMO.

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I recently read that Buick sold over 900,000 vehicles in China compared with something around 235,000 in the US. At the time of the GM bankruptcy, I seem to remember reading somewhere that Pontiac would have survived rather than Buick except for the fact that Buick was doing so well in China.

I like the front, rear and front /side view of the Avenir but don't like the rear quarter view. It reminds me of the Honda Crosstour and the Porsche Panamera. It needs a longer rear deck or something. And I'm sure if it comes to the US in some form, it will be outrageously expensive. Look what GM wants for the Chevy SS.

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That was a well keep secret, thanks for sharing the article. I'm glad to hear GM is keeping the folks at Holden busy, they do good work. I owned a Pontiac G8 GXP which was a rebadged Commodore. I was a fantastic car. When people asked why on earth I would buy a Pontiac, I told them I didn't. I bought a Holden. And the reason I bought it was because the only people building classic America cars were Australian.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]290783[/ATTACH]"I'm curious, where did you read that Holden built this car?"

Brisbane (Australia) Courier Mail

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I think the Buick Cascada convertible is awkward looking:

It has styling that looks like a loafer. Having a raised rear

takes all the grace out of that vehicle.

On the other hand, the Avenir looks great to me, at least

from the angle shown in the website's picture. If that came

in 15 or more colors, and had interiors other than gray and tan--

and, most importantly, turned out to be extremely reliable--

Buicks would be selling very well. Buick, build the Avenir!

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The Cascada is already being built and sold as an Opel.

Mr. 51 dyno, are you saying that General Motors

has officially announced the production of those two

concept cars? I had not heard that. Ususally, concept

cars are just to whet designers' imaginations, give

some splash to the brand, and assess public reaction.

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Speaking from my experience as an electrical engineer, no one involved with electronics will buy products from china unless they are just trying to make junk. They have zero quality control. This next part is the real scary part. Metal made in china gives off radiation due to their smelting process. They dump coal ash into the molten metal to get rid of the ash and because they just don’t care about anything.

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Benjamin, thanks for the knowledgeable comments

of an engineer in that field.

I've understood that some of the electronics of the 1980's

(such as in the Cadillac Allante, and various other GM cars)

have had trouble too. Any insights on those? Were they

just constructed lightly and not ruggedly built to last?

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Guest my3buicks
Speaking from my experience as an electrical engineer, no one involved with electronics will buy products from china unless they are just trying to make junk. They have zero quality control. This next part is the real scary part. Metal made in china gives off radiation due to their smelting process. They dump coal ash into the molten metal to get rid of the ash and because they just don’t care about anything.

Oh come on REALLY???? GM cars being sold and or built in China are NOT a Chinese company and would have the same controls and quality as any GM car built anywhere in the world. More than likely the steel is shipped from the US which is not uncommon now. Nothing worse than rumor and fear mongers

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Guest my3buicks
Benjamin, thanks for the knowledgeable comments

of an engineer in that field.

I've understood that some of the electronics of the 1980's

(such as in the Cadillac Allante, and various other GM cars)

have had trouble too. Any insights on those? Were they

just constructed lightly and not ruggedly built to last?

John you have to understand the complex electronics in cars such as the Allante, Reatta, Imperials, etc of the late 80's and early 90's - these cars were pioneering electrical gadgets and functions never before seen in cars - A fully functional touch screen command center in 88 - way ahead of it's time, as with most new items and growth, early problems arise, and like anything else electronic that is 25 years old now, problems arise.

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A couple of years ago, I interviewed a former General Manager

of Oldsmobile (an AACA member) and a prominent former dealer.

The dealer, who sat on an Olds committee and was sincerely interested in

good service, readily acknowledged the electrical problems seen in some '80's GM cars.

I was grateful for his forthrightness. It was felt that electrical problems

were one of the contributors to Olds' noticeable decline from formerly top sales.

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Keith, I would hope Chinese Buicks are built to the same

standards as American Buicks. With much of the manufacturing

process automated these days, such a parity should be easier to achieve.

But I understand that at one time, English Fords were so poorly made,

that they were successfully sold only in England. They were

evidently not well regarded on the European continent. Ford's

quality thus varied with location.

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If it is made in China it will have a mammoth image problem to overcome. In my opinion, more so than ever before Americans want a product that creates American jobs, and rightly so !

Wayne

Then America should support them like China does. In 2013, 4 times more Buicks were sold in China than were sold in the U.S.

Craig

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Guest bkazmer
Then America should support them like China does. In 2013, 4 times more Buicks were sold in China than were sold in the U.S.

Craig

Exactly. Buick design work is increasing done in their largest market, China. The resulting vehicle can still be built here, but that will be an economic decision. The convertible market in China though is tiny, so the German Opel is the basis. The "nationality" of a vehicle is a complicated thing these days.

Personally, I agree that the Velite was more attractive. That Cascada A-pillar/beltline area is a mess of Bangle-like proportion.

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Oh come on REALLY???? GM cars being sold and or built in China are NOT a Chinese company and would have the same controls and quality as any GM car built anywhere in the world. More than likely the steel is shipped from the US which is not uncommon now. Nothing worse than rumor and fear mongers

thats not at all how it works.

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Oh come on REALLY???? GM cars being sold and or built in China are NOT a Chinese company and would have the same controls and quality as any GM car built anywhere in the world. More than likely the steel is shipped from the US which is not uncommon now. Nothing worse than rumor and fear mongers

How is it any different than all of the Hondas and Toyotas that are built here that they try to pass off as American cars? They even show up on lists of "Most American Cars" with 72% or whatever supposed percent American parts and built here. So supposedly this means they are more American than vehicles produced by GM, Ford, and Chrysler.

To me, they are still foreign. But they still show up on the lists.

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