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http://www.autonews.com/article/20170314/OEM04/170319949/1657

Buick expected to replace Regal sedan with 5-door hatch, wagon

March 14, 2017 @ 11:00 am

Michael Wayland

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The new Regal models are expected to be rebadged versions of Opel's Insignia Grand Sport hatchback, pictured, and Insignia Sports Tourer wagon, which were showcased last week at the Geneva auto show. Photo credit: RICHARD TRUETTPHOTO GALLERY: Opel Insignia Grand Sport hatchback

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General Motors plans to replace the Buick Regal sedan in the United States with a sedan-styled 5-door hatchback and Buick’s first wagon in two decades, according to two auto forecast firms.

The new Regal models are expected to be rebadged versions of Opel’s Insignia Grand Sport hatchback and Insignia Sports Tourer wagon, which were showcased last week at the Geneva auto show.

Cutting the Regal sedan is an aggressive move for Buick, but not surprising given the market’s shift from cars to higher-riding and more spacious crossovers and SUVs.

U.S. sales of midsize sedans have dropped for 2 consecutive years, and the segment is off 20 percent in the 1st 2 months of 2017.

The redesigned Opel Insiginia, with the rear hatch open, at the Geneva auto show. Photo credit: RICHARD TRUETT

A hatchback provides the styling of a sedan but some of the storage capacity and flexibility of a crossover, which accounted for nearly two-thirds of Buick’s 229,631 U.S. sales in 2016.

GM most recently hinted at plans to develop a hatchback with sedan styling when it introduced the 5-door Cadillac Escala concept car in August.

The 2018 Buick Regal is scheduled to make its global debut on April 4 at GM’s Warren Technical Center in suburban Detroit, a week ahead of its first auto show appearance in New York alongside the redesigned Buick Enclave crossover.

Buick spokesman Stuart Fowle declined to comment on the body types planned for the next-generation Regal, which has been a midsize sedan since the automaker resurrected the nameplate in 2010.

LMC Automotive and AutoForecast Solutions expect the hatchback and wagon versions of the Regal to be built at Opel’s Ruesselsheim factory in Germany and imported to the U.S.

Opel's Insignia Sports Tourer.

A sedan version of the next-gen Regal is expected to be produced in China for that market but not exported to the U.S. or Europe. It is expected to be introduced in April at the Shanghai auto show. Leaked photos of the car show hood lines compared to the hatchback’s that align with the large glass window.

Current production of the Regal for the U.S. is expected to end at GM’s Oshawa, Ontario, assembly plant this year.The Regal wagon would be Buick’s first entry in the segment since production of the Century and Roadmaster ended in the mid-1990s.

The next-generation Regal could be the last produced by Opel, after GM last week agreed to sell the operations along with its Vauxhall unit to French automaker PSA Group for $2.3 billion.

mmarshall

If Trump gets the 35% tariff that he wants on cars built overseas and sold in the U.S., I doubt if the German-built ones will actually be sold here. It will raise the price too much. One reason that the Verano consistently outsold the last-generation Regal was that it was almost as much car for significantly less money.

And this business of dumping sedans is getting completely out of hand. There are people out there that still DO want them. This is NOT Europe. The addition of the wagon, though, with the Regal's available AWD (if kept), might make it a good competitor for the Audi All-Road, Volvo XC-70, and top-line versions of the Subaru Outback......minus some extra ground clearance, of course.

tex2670

I'm not feeling the wagon, but I've always been partial to hatchbacks that look like regular sedans--like the BMW 4-Series Gran Coupe. Based on styling, I'd seriously consider the hatch.

I wonder how the planned sale of Opel will impact this--it's probably too far down the line to change this generation of Regal....

tex2670

People DO want sedans, but how many? The numbers speak for themselves--SUVs/CUVs now outsell sedans. There are also people out there that do want manual transmissions--a lot of good that has done.

mmarshall

True, but my point was that you don't necessarily have to totally rob Peter to pay Paul...which is what some auto manufacturers are doing. Since this thread is (primarily) about Buick, they are one of the classic examples....in just one year (especially if this article is correct), they will have dumped both of their smaller American-market sedans, with only one left...the LaCrosse. This, IMO, is simply unacceptable. Buick, for several years, has been trying (and succeeding) in bringing in new buyers. But you aren't going to keep being in new buyers if you try and cram all of them into SUVs.

However, I agree that part of it is beyond the control of the manufacturers. I said, in another post (in response to a comment from Jill), that the average American auto-buyer is apparently becoming addicted to the high-seating, winter-traction, ground clearance, and cargo-capacity of SUV's. That is probably going to continue, no matter what the price of gas is.

dseag2

Interesting developments in recent years. No one would touch a traditional hatchback with a 10 foot pole, then Audi introduced the A7. Now BMW has the 4 Series Gran Coupe. Audi is bringing the A5/S5 Sportback to the States. Kia is introducing the Stinger, which is a sport hatchback. Seems Buick may be onto something. It sure looks nice.

Aron9000

I like the look of the hatchback Opel/Regal. Looks like a sedan, but way more versatile.

Also the reason they aren't doing a Regal sedan is that there isn't an Opel Insignia sedan either, just hatch and wagon. And I think it might be the Tesla Model S(along with the A7) that has really brought the hatchback back to more premium cars. Everybody looks at the Tesla as the car of the future, so the hatch opening is now thought of as the latest/greatest thing, even though it isn't a new idea.

tex2670

But isn't that where the bulk of new Buick buyers are coming from? SUV/CUV purchases?

mmarshall

Yes, probably the majority of them, but that doesn't mean that the sedans have to be ignored. Many Buick traditionalists still want the sedans....except maybe for the Regal GS, which satisfied the enthusiast magazines, but was simply too sport-oriented for the average Buick driver.

tex2670

Well, I think you nailed it--Buick has been trying to expand that base "average Buick driver" for years. SUVs and sporty versions are how they are doing it--remember the commercial from a few years ago with the elderly lady screaming "That's not a Buick!" when her neighbor's son had a Regal GS?

Seriously, you could say the same thing about Lexus, and it's move to the Spindle Grille, and F-Sport models--trying to appeal to younger buyers.

mmarshall

That's true to an extent. But, at the same time, the average life expectancy is so long today (82 for males and 83 for females in my county, arguably the highest in the U.S.) that a lot of those geezers in their LaCrosses are going to still going to be driving for some time LOL. The old cliche that they are all dying off is (vastly) overrated....and, yes, having worked and saved for a long time, they have money to spend on new cars even after retirement....although the highest average disposable income is often before that, in the late 40s or 50s. The auto industry has seriously misjudged this group of people...they are NOT a thing of the past, as some product-planners believe.

Most auto commercials, IMO, are an insult to human intelligence. That one was no exception. I suppose, based on ads, that people actually believed that Shaq O'Neal, at 7' 1" and between 300 and 400 lbs, could FIT into the front seat of the last-generation LaCrosse LOL.


People in their 70s and 80s are buying and leasing ES models with the spindle grille every day, although the spindle grille on the ES is not as large or garish as that on, say, the new RX. At the local County Fitness Center where I swim and exercise in the indoor Olympic-sized pool and gym-room (and which attracts older people like a magnet), the parking lot is full of ES models and Buick LaCrosses.

Toys4RJill

Hopefully Buick does the right thing and makes this new Regal in the US or Canada. It will be a shame if they make it China and export the car the US. It's a complete shame what GM has done with the Chinese imports. A real sad move from an iconic American company.

Aron9000

Like it or not, they've sold more cars in China than in the US for the past two years. I could see 10 years from now GM selling double the number of cars in China vs the US. I do agree that the Chinese imports of the Buick SUV and the hybrid Cadillac CT6 is a real sham(espeically the Cadillac). Same old GM though, run by accountants, those Chinese imports sure do make their balance sheet look great, who cares if its doing all kinds of harm to the reputation of your brand.

mmarshall

I looked very carefully at the only currently Chinese-made Buick imported to the U.S. (the Envision SUV), deliberately looking for as many imperfections and assembly-line/fit-finish goofs as I could. From my eyes and hands, the Envisions I saw were as carefully made as anything I've seen from other countries. The only thing unusual I found was a rather weird smell inside (presumably from the leathers/plastics/vinyls used) that was unlike anything you usually smell with a new vehicle.

tex2670

Of course--they have been customers for decades. There's momentum after buying/leasing the same brand of car for decades. But makers have to put out cars that will attract new customers, not just loyalists. I see the same thing with Caddy too--so many elderly drivers getting out of an ATS--they are clearly not Caddy's target customer for that vehicle. But Caddy's not going to refuse to sell to them.