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Dear America, you don't need as much power as you think

I recently won a 0-20-mph drag race against a Chevrolet Volt. A day later I smoked a Tesla Model 3. “Um OK,” youÂ’re thinking, “that canÂ’t be that hard.” Well, except that the vehicle I was piloting featured a hybrid powertrain of a Bosch electric motor and 40-year-old human legs. ThatÂ’s right, I out accelerated automobiles on a bicycle. On another occasion, I found myself driving behind my wife in her 2023 Kia Niro EV. The specs say it accelerates from zero to 60 mph in 7.8 seconds, a time thatÂ’s six-tenths off the pace of KiaÂ’s rear-motor-only EV6, a vehicle IÂ’ve repeatedly read being described as “slow.” The Niro, therefore, must be extra-slow. And yet, as she turned left onto a highway onramp, she rocketed forward leaving me in a Mercedes-AMG C43 and every other car in the left turn lane in the distance. I share these anecdotes not to boast about my cycling ability, nor my wife having a lead foot. No no. IÂ’m crap and she really doesnÂ’t. Instead, I want to point out that most drivers accelerate very slowly. The notion of “bigger is better” will forever be engrained in the American psyche, but when it comes to horsepower largesse, todayÂ’s cars hilariously exceed both the expectations and driving habits of most drivers. Most car buyers just donÂ’t have a frame of reference when it comes to equating 0-60 times, output figures and the actual feeling of acceleration.   Eat my dust, Mr Volt! Now, we in the automotive-reviewing media absolutely share some of this blame. We like accelerating quickly and cars that accelerate quicker are bound to reap more positive reviews. At the very least, weÂ’re obligated to point out when a carÂ’s acceleration is slower than a certain competitor's or the segmentÂ’s average. However, just because Car A is slower than Car B doesnÂ’t make Car A slow. It makes it slower. For example, the dual-motor EV6 may be 2 full seconds quicker from 0-60 than the rear-motor model ­– a relatively massive difference – but barring a back-to-back drive or a wealth of comparative knowledge, itÂ’s laughable to think that the average driver could possibly deem the rear-motor version “slow.” Because it isnÂ’t. The near-universal use of turbocharging, the popularity of all-wheel-drive and increased proliferation of electric motors has resulted in this rapid drop in 0-60 times thatÂ’s outpacing customer expectations and driving habits.

Why Buick's future lies in China

Back in the last half of 2008 and into 2009, when General Motors was looking at too much capacity for too few customers, when it was running out of money and needing to go to the governments of the US and Canada and to the UAW for financial support, its management team was pretty much instructed by the feds to focus resources on what would create the best likelihood for a return on the investments and guarantees that it was getting. Things needed to be cut, and not just the corporate air fleet. This led to the elimination of Saturn, Hummer and Pontiac and the sale of Saab to Spyker. What remained of GM's North American brand portfolio was Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC. (Oldsmobile had been shuttered in 2004.) There were a variety of opinions regarding which brands GM should keep/lose during the midst of the Great Recession. Some thought GMC should be axed, but then it was pointed out that GMC essentially produced high-content Chevys, which resulted in fantastic transaction costs. Lots of money in the back of those pickups. Others thought Buick should be eliminated. The rationale was: Chevy was the mass-market brand, Cadillac was the luxury brand, and GMC helped leverage the company's investment in trucks. (Yes, even back then the F-Series was winning the pickup sales race, so it was always a matter of adding Silverado and Sierra sales to show that GM was solidly in the game.) So what was Buick? Better than Chevy but not as good as a Cadillac? Somehow that doesn't seem to be a particularly aspirational position to hold. But Buick's identity didn't need to be worked out in 2008-09 because there was a single compelling reason to keep it: China. According to official GM history, Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the first provisional president of China, and Zhou Enlai, a Chinese premier, "Either owned, drove or were driven in Buick automobiles." What's more: "According to statistics from the Shanghai government, in 1930 one out of every six cars on the city's roads was a Buick." Which is to say that Buick got to China early and has a major presence in that market. When the Regal Sportback and Regal TourX were being unveiled at the GM Design Dome the first week of April, Duncan Aldred, vice president of Global Buick, gave a briefing of Buick's place on the automotive landscape.

Buick to use Velite name for its Cascada?

Ever since Opel brought out the Cascada convertible last year, rumors have been flying that Buick would offer it Stateside – much like it does with the Insignia-based Regal and the Astra-based Verano. And now we might have our best clue yet as to what Buick might call it. According to GM Authority, General Motors has filed to use the name Velite on a new model. The name first appeared on a convertible concept unveiled over a decade ago at the 2004 New York Auto Show (pictured above), but GM reportedly opened an application to trademark the nameplate for production in 2011, seeking extensions on its application every six months since. Of course the fact that it's applied for its fifth extension (of a permissible six) doesn't necessarily mean that GM will ultimately bring the cabriolet to US showrooms, or that it will use the Velite name if it does, but the fact that GM is keeping the name alive could be a good sign. The market for relaxed four-seat convertibles has been shrinking, leaving it up to drop-top muscle cars like the Chevy Camaro and Ford Mustang. But with entries like the Toyota Camry Solara, Volkswagen Eos and Chrysler 200 Convertible having dropped off the market, the Buick Velite (or Cascada, or whatever it's ultimately called) could have the sedate cabriolet segment all to itself – even if (or especially if) Lexus dealers aren't interested in touching it.