Buick

Dave Arbogast Buick invites you to "drive beautiful" with our fine line of Buick models: Buick Enclave, Buick LaCrosse, Buick Lucerne, Buick Rainier, Buick Rendezvous and Buick Terraza.

Buick History

Buick originated as an independent motor car manufacturer, the Buick Motor Company, incorporated on May 19, 1903 by the Scottish-American David Dunbar Buick (who invented the overhead valve engine on which the company's success was based) in Flint, Michigan. In 1904 the struggling company was taken over by James Whiting, who brought in William C. Durant to manage his new acquisition. Buick sold his stock for a small sum upon departure, and died in modest circumstances forty years later.

Durant was a natural, and Buick soon became the largest car maker in America. Using the profits from this, Durant embarked on a series of corporate acquisitions, calling the new mega-corporation General Motors.

At first, the manufacturers comprising General Motors competed against each other, but Durant ended that. He wanted each General Motors division to target one class of buyer, and in his new scheme Buick was near the top—only the Cadillac brand had more prestige.

In 1929 the Buick Motor Division launched the Marquette sister brand, designed to bridge the price gap between Buick and Oldsmobile, however Marquette was discontinued in 1930.

Today Buick retains that position in the GM lineup. The ideal Buick customer was comfortably off, possibly not quite rich enough to afford a Cadillac or not desiring the ostentation of one, but definitely in the market for a car above the norm. Buick is one of the oldest marques in the world, with Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Peugeot, Cadillac, Daimler and the discontinued Oldsmobile.

Buick began consolidating its lineup in 2005, replacing the Century and Regal with the LaCrosse (known as the Buick Allure in Canada), and the LeSabre and Park Avenue with the Lucerne in 2006. The company replaced both of its SUVs, the Rendezvous and Rainier with the Enclave. This will leave the marque with just three models in the United States by 2009. There have been rumors on Edumund's and Motor Trend that Buick will have a roadster sedan in 2010.

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