Next-Gen Buick LaCrosse Launch Date Pushed Back to Next Year

Allure Photos

Buick's new LaCrosse promises to be very competitive. (Photo: GM)

The current Buick LaCrosse looks better after its mid-cycle upgrade, but nevertheless needs a full makeover. (Photo: GM)

The Chinese-designed Buick Invicta Concept shows that the storied GM brand might be in good hands if Chinese owned. (Photo: GM)

What to do with Buick. That’s a question that General Motors has been asking itself for years, and thanks to the Chinese auto market, where the General sells more of the waterfall grilled cars than it does in the US, the brand remains alive and kicking. And for good reason, really.

As GM’s only entry-level luxury brand, and one that was recently given the boost of a highly successful crossover model, the Enclave, it has tremendous potential for reaping in profits. The problem lies in product. Not enough of it, and the fact that what it has, other than the Enclave, is aging.

When GM introduced the LaCrosse it was an impressive move forward in interior quality, ride and handling and features for Buick, and a solid competitor in the midsize class. And while it still has the capability of competing, it’s past time for more than a mild makeover.

Recent teaser photos of the upcoming car look promising, however, so it only makes sense that GM would want to get it on the market as soon as possible and take advantage of the excitement, at least at the dealer level, to bring in more cash.

Alas, that age-old adage “it takes money to makes money” comes to mind, and money isn’t particularly easy to come by in today’s messed up financial world. Therefore, a car that was set to launch at the Los Angeles auto show later this month is instead set to debut at the Detroit show in January, said GM spokesman Scott Fosgard to Reuters.

When it does we’ll get all of the specs, although some have leaked already. The LaCrosse will be based on the new Epsilon II architecture, while an upgraded version of GM’s 3.6-litre V6 will find a home under the hood in upper trim levels.

Speaking of the 3.6-litre V6, which started life in the original Cadillac CTS, the beautiful CTS Coupe has also been delayed from Los Angeles to Detroit.

While Cadillac has enjoyed tremendous success in recent years, it’s not immune to the credit crunch. Buick, on the other hand is feeling the pinch more severely.

Automotive News writer Charles Child had an interesting solution to this problem, however, and that’s to sell the beleaguered brand to China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., which builds Buick’s cars for the Chinese market and is enjoying such great success there. Not only would this move add dollars to GM’s billion per month negative cash flow, but it would give the Chinese automaker easy entry into the North American market.

Back here at home, Buick might want to reconsider the LaCrosse name,
being that it can’t (or shouldn’t) be used globally (Canada calls it
Allure due to lacrosse having a negative context in the local French
language). There is some talk that the new model will get the Invicta
nameplate, after the Invicta concept designed and engineered in China.
This would help GM’s Canadian operations who don’t directly benefit
from the TV “bleed” through cable stations of US LaCrosse sponsorship.