Conceptualized: Buick Avant

DETROIT — General Motors is still noodling with Buick's future lineup, after its earlier disastrous attempt to morph the Saturn Vue hybrid into a "Vue-ic" flopped miserably. Its latest foray into the future, dubbed Buick Avant, has designers presenting their takes on a possible "small premium Buick."

In a posting at TheLab.gmblogs.com, the division says it studied premium buyers and markets around the world to see how the definition of luxury and consumers' expectations are changing. The conclusion: "As luxury customers become more discerning, more conscientious, and more pressed for time, there is a way to improve their lives with a small premium car."

Buick then charged its designers with putting that research into actual concepts, resulting in six exterior and four interior design themes.

While the division says it has yet to settle on a specific design for production, it maintains: "We wanted to create a dramatic expression of a new kind of Buick . . . This vehicle is intended to be a stunning object, something that fits into the consumer's everyday life, yet elevates the everyday to a compelling experience."

Buick invites viewers to comment at thelab.gmblogs.com/buick-avant.

Inside Line says: It may be too late to save the Buick brand in North America, but we're guessing younger Chinese consumers will find at least some of these concepts intriguing. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent