Our jaws hit the floor. The Internet lit up. Facebook had it in the “trending topics” section almost immediately, and every auto journalist had to pick their jaws up off of the floor. The Buick Avista concept car was a freaking knockout when it debuted at the Detroit Motor Show, the second Buick in two years to pull that feat off (the four-door Avenir being the first). Clearly, Buick has their styling game down, and by showing off the Avista as a two-door true hardtop, we had chills…it was effectively a dream new car. V8? Turbo six? Who cares? We’d take the turbo-four out of the Camaro if we could get that body!
Well, we can’t. In an interview with Ward’s Auto, Buick Vice President Tony DiSalle effectively sank all hope. “(The Avista concept) was purely a concept and meant to generate some buzz…no other plans for now.” Well, that blows, but maybe it could be an inspiration for a four-door Regal replacement? We’d accept that…but again, nope. “Regal is the athlete in our lineup, and in fact Regal owners are our lowest-age buyers at 47 years old. Regal is a premium sedan in the midsize-car segment, and while the growth now is in crossovers, Regal is still very important because the midsize segment is huge and we need a volume car in that segment. Speculation about Regal is just that, speculation.” Ok, you freaking spoilsport…is it a styling exercise? Nope…that was the Avenir’s job.
So let me get this straight: you bring out one of, if not the sexiest design to come from a GM studio in at least ten years (if not longer) and all you will say is that it was only to be an eye-catcher? You could’ve rendered the car and saved potentially millions of dollars if that was the case! The Avista had class, presence and the possibility of Buick performance not seen since at least 1987. You had people a hell of a lot younger than 47 years old clamoring for the Avista, but instead of building what they would want, you said no. So, here’s a question I bet no Buick rep will answer: when will you actually build a car with any kind of soul again, if you’re letting your best volley in decades act only as a PR stunt?
(Inspiration: Courtesy of Carscoops)
The only people who would love the “Avista” are the body shop owners. Parking lots would become “crunch o-ramas” as senior citizens practice their park by touch. Wrong demographics. As a Pontiac it would sell.
Great! Another great move by those genius’ at GM. I was considering this car too in the not too distant future. So far all the cool concept cars we have seen aint gonna haspen from them. Jackass’
because if they built it would hurt corvette sales
Gotta protect the Corvette. This car would sell!!!
The reality of this is..possibly a great car like the Pontiac G8. Being sold by Buick dealers whose customer base and mindset deals with the 65 up crowd. No room for the grand kids,too racy..no room for my walker.
Forget BUICK and GM.
Watch Hyundai or KIA roll this out next year.
We’re doomed…
They should paint it black, put in a twin turbo V-6, and make it the new Grand National.
NOT!
GM=Genius Mentality! NOT
Of course it looks good , that could be the flagship model for the brand , the odds for a success is too great : must not market it . This is so GM .
This car would be right in between the Caddy CTS and Camaro. It appears to be sitting on one of those two cars’ chassis, if they don’t use the same already. GM is scared to death of having cross over on their higher end models. God forbid a customer has more than one choice and price level on the same platform.
Remember the good old days when we had a choices of A bodies and B bodies across all the GM brands; with multiple choices available F bodies and G bodies.
If people didn’t buy the crap GM currently sells they’d have to build stuff like this to entice customers once again.
I feel like GM is still running their company as though they are still number one. They think they’re too big to tailor product lines to what they consider niche markets. Their refusal to be innovative and push boundaries is exactly what knocked them off the top of the hill. At this point I’m hoping they fail.
With that attitude, good luck lowering that 47 year old mean limit.