Buick Scores the Hat Trick with Three Kelley Blue Book Awards

Kelley Blue Book (KBB) handed out its 5-Year Cost to Own awards for 2014 recently, and Buick not only took home some hardware, it scored big, with three different models winning top honors.

The Buick Verano sedan received the award for the Entry-Level Luxury Car class. KBB gave the nod to Buick’s Encore crossover in the Luxury Compact SUV/Crossover class and to the Enclave crossover for the Luxury Full-Size SUV/Crossover class.

Kelley Blue Book monitors a wealth of market information on virtually every car in the market, tracking market value, finance costs, maintenance, fuel expenses and more. KBB has the capability to compare both depreciation and direct ownership expenses on every class of car in the market. It calculates the total costs of ownership for the first five years of a car’s service life to determine the award winners. The analysis revealed that the 2014 version of the Buick Encore would suffer 35.7 percent less depreciation than the comparable Acura RDX and lose an astounding 63.7 percent less value over five years than the much pricier BMW X3.

Data trends where Buick showed up its competition included the lowest projected combination of depreciation and the total cost of fuel, insurance, registration fees, financing, maintenance and repair. According to vice president of Buick marketing Tony DiSalle, the international luxury maker has placed a particular emphasis on long-term dependability as part of its quality-control process. Buick’s star has been rising of late, with the introduction of several landmark new models meeting receiving strong approval by the public in both North America and China.

The Verano sold over 41,000 units in 2012, exceeding analysts’ expectations. It is fitted with camera-based crash-avoidance systems like its Side Blind Zone Alert and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert as standard equipment. Buick has added a Lane Departure warning system and a Forward Collision Alert for 2014. Encore buyers can look forward to Buick?s IntelliLink system that uses Bluetooth and USB devices to connect the driver?s smartphone to the car by way of a seven-inch display system. The larger Enclave crossover comes with 10 air bags, StabiliTrak stability enhancement and active noise cancellation technology.

One area where Buick performed particularly well was in fuel efficiency. The Encore’s fuel mileage is estimated at 33 mpg highway by the EPA, outperforming the highway fuel economy ratings of both the Volkswagen Tiguan and BMW’s Mini Countryman S. The Encore’s 28-mpg combined rating also tops that of Ford’s most fuel-efficient Escape model.