What is it?
Buick Regal GS Concept
What's special about it?
What's special about it? It's a Buick with a suede-covered flat-bottom steering wheel, dude. How much more special do you want?
With the former excitement-bringer Pontiac out of the way, GM is beginning to load the Buick lineup with Euro-engineered product. The LaCrosse, based on the surprisingly competent, designed-in-Europe Epsilon II platform, is the first of the non-flaccid Buicks. This curious turn for the old brand has been further promoted by the recent announcement that the rebadged Opel Insignia would be the next Buick Regal and will be offered with a turbocharged engine and a — gasp! — manual transmission.
Now Buick will reveal a Buick-ized concept of the high-performance Opel Insignia OPC, introduced at the Detroit auto show as the Buick Regal GS Concept. That's right, it's a "concept" of the thinly veiled production variety. The production version is assured, judging by Bob Lutz's various winks and nudges during a preview of the "concept."
Anyway, the car itself borrows very heavily from the OPC, including a sport-oriented Interactive Drive Control System (IDCS), which controls damper settings, throttle response and steering sensitivity. There are three protocols: Normal, Sport and GS. All this is presented in the cockpit just as in the Opel Insignia OPC, except the button inside this Buick says "GS" instead of "OPC." The car rides on 20-inch cast-aluminum wheels, which are really very handsome, and wears 35-series Bridgestone performance tires. Further, the front suspension has been reworked with what GM calls "HiPerStrut." This high-performance front suspension strut is meant to reduce torque steer and enhance cornering by maintaining negative camber and it comes from — where else? — the Opel Insignia OPC.
Like the OPC, the Buick Regal GS features an all-wheel-drive system that incorporates an electronic limited-slip differential in the rear. The concept also has a Brembo braking system with 14-inch drilled rotors and four-piston aluminum calipers. Unlike the Opel, which is powered by the same basic turbocharged V6 that's used in the turbo version of the Cadillac SRX, the Regal GS is said to have a turbo 2.0-liter inline-4, a high-output version of which will be offered in the Regal CXL next year. It produces an estimated 255 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. Predictably, it is bolted to a six-speed manual transmission.
Inside the cabin, Buick has blacked out all the interior trim within the GS, plus added the aforementioned flat-bottom steering wheel. The nose of the GS borrows heavily from the OPC with its additional vertically oriented air intakes. In fact, so close is the resemblance of the exterior between the two cars that Buick has prepared the photographic image of the GS you see here by simply pasting a Buick grille and portholes to an existing picture of the OPC.
All of this should provide for a decidedly un-Buick-like demeanor for the Buick Regal GS when it reaches production. If this all seems a bit overblown, well, some items may change for production. Rumors are already circulating that the 2.0-liter turbo will be replaced by a V6, either the turbo unit used by Opel in Europe or GM's familiar 3.6-liter naturally aspirated lump.
The world changes pretty fast, although perhaps not quite as fast as GM is trying to change Buick.
Inside Line says: We're down with OPC. Yeah, you know me! — Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit
Add A Comment »
johnsavino1 says:
04:00 PM, 01/27/2010
any word on an automatic transmission with paddle shifters??
calspecial68 says:
06:24 PM, 01/20/2010
I think this car will be an instant classic and/or collectible as i doubt too many people will buy this car. The LaCrosse has definitely moved Buick to the younger buyers, but i dont think that theyve moved enough to buy this car too. Maybe a few old guys looking to buy a new Buick hotrod will snatch this one up. Whatever works i guess.
hunter312 says:
06:02 PM, 01/12/2010
The stupidity of GM was trying to keep Saturn around. Just like some commenters on here have mentioned there are still lingering bad memories of the days when Saturn and Buick made pretty crappy cars to be honest.
What they SHOULD have done is gotten rid of the Saturn Brand and instead replaced the brand with Opel at saturn dealerships. That would have cost them much less in comparison to starting up a brand new division and getting together a while franchise of dealerships. Then we would have been able to get an Opel badged version for those of us who still consider ourselves 'young and cool' and the older generation would get their Buicks. That would have cost them the least compared to the other options.
You don't have to get rid of Buick (especially since its a big seller in China) but you can't expect younger buyers to just forget the fact that Buick was on its last legs not too long ago. One car will not save the brand no matter how good it is - just look at the G8 and Pontiac. That car was an excellent rebadged Holden but the Pontiac branding brought it down (and in comparison to Buick the Pontiac brand actually had some good cars over the years).
As car enthusiasts we may be pickier than the regular run-of-the-mill car buyer but that in no way changes the fact that we are also car buyers and make up a good portion, and as regular people we also look at brand image whether it is luxury cars, sporty cars, youthful cars etc. etc. So unless Pontiac starts pulling a rabbit out of its hat this car won't do too much for the brand perception. Sure there are the Lacrosse and the Enclave but at the end of the day they won't take away too many sales from established competitors to change the brand into something cool.
1967firebird says:
08:47 AM, 01/12/2010
I'm thinking that the 2.0 Turbo is a good choice. I've had that motor in a Solstice GXP and upgraded it through the GM Performance Parts to 295 HP. Sure the Solstice is a little lighter but that car really hauled the mail. With a manual trans I could get 40 MPG when I was trying. Hey, GM....I'll take the 2.0 with a 6-Speed....Leave off any Porthole and Plastic Wood Trim and I'll be inline to order mine.
To all of you that think Buick is uncool......look where Cadillac was 10 years ago. Would you have ever considered a Cadillac back then? Now look at Cadillac! Who wouldn't want to own a new CTS-V?
footpound says:
06:03 AM, 01/12/2010
Best looking Buick ever. I hope the trend of domestic brands bringing the euro-styled/tuned vehicles stateside continues.
frommx5tomz3 says:
04:08 PM, 01/11/2010
tomcatt - Your comments indicate that perhaps you are the prejudiced one - prejudging all Generation X/Boomers as being self-centered and prejudiced. As a Gen X-er, I don't think you have to have "prejudices against older people" to write-off the Buick brand. People in my generation don't shy away from Buick because it represents old people - they shy away from it because they can't remember a car they ever liked that was a Buick. I have a deep respect for older generations, and some of them probably remember Buick making world-class cars. I don't. I can't think of one Buick that I have drooled over - ever. This new Regal is the closest I've seen, but I have to battle my entire life's worth of experiences seeing non-descript "Oldsmobuicks" when trying to think of this brand as cool. It has ZERO to do with my feelings about old people. It has everything to do with what I can remember seeing out of this car brand over the last 30-40 years.
I do agree that some future generations of buyers won't have these negative impressions to overcome and that Buick may be able to win them over. However, I just question whether GM has the luxury to ignore the age groups (30s-50s) that tend to spend the most on luxury cars for the next 10-20 years while the next generation moves into their prime luxury car purchasing years. Opel could potentially appeal to all of these groups, while I fear that Buick is unlikely to ever succeed with all of us "prejudiced" middle-aged people. Maybe if Buick makes drool-worthy cars for the next 5 years, I will start to see things differently, but I can't say for sure until it happens.
lexuslvr says:
04:07 PM, 01/11/2010
May I be the first to say that this has the same amount of torque as a BMW M3 at a lower rpm as well as a 6-speed manual. With AWD and that light weight 2.0T DI I4 engine it will weigh about as much as the M3 at around 3700 lbs. That said how on this planet can a car be underpowered if it hustles to 60 in less than 6 sec which is what the Regal GS is ment to do?
kdiggitydog76 says:
02:24 PM, 01/11/2010
I really have to echo Hunter's sentiments. I've never really had any sort of connection to or interest in the Buick brand. That is, until I saw the recent adds featuring the new Lacrosse, and now this. The cars are actually good looking enough IMHO to get excited about. What I worry about is brand trying to capture new buyers by only fixing the cosmetics and not the dynamics. If this car weighs as much as it probably will, the proposed motors will leave it horribly underpowered. If I was cross shopping this car against its American competitors, I'd probably wind up dropping my money on something with Ford's heated-up EcoBoost V6, provided a manual tranny was also available. Lincoln's MKS has this motor as an option, but it also costs significantly more.
In any case, Buick should be proud of recent efforts, if we're not all the way there yet. Let's see if we can get a car out that handles and goes as well as it looks!
mikedrud says:
02:15 PM, 01/11/2010
tomcatt: don't know if I can agree with you. Buick is simply irrelevant to younger car buyers.
But you make some good points, so perhaps there's room for Buick to reinvent itself. If they build well-styled, reliable cars, they could make a comeback. Not like Ford, but still.
tomcatt630 says:
09:15 AM, 01/11/2010
Regarding Opel badging, it would be a big waste to 'rebrand' Buick to please the picky, fanatical car enthusiasts.
Reality is that most car buyers don't fantically read car blogs/mags and have deep seated biases from the 1970's. The upcoming generation of younger buyers are more ethnically diverse and don't have the prejudices against older people as the self centered Boomers and some Gen x'ers. They respect their grandparents' old Buick and want one of their own someday.