Stunning Rare 62 Buick Station Wagon on 2040-cars

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Buick luxury sedan design sketch would make a great flagship

Over the Thanksgiving holiday General Motors posted a sketch of a futuristic Buick sedan to social media. In fact, the sleek wedge is just the latest in a series of illustrations that seem to point the way to a luxury EV coming in 2024 (for model year 2025). That's when Buick has promised its first fully-electric vehicle, with the promise that the entire lineup will be gasoline free.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by GM Design (@generalmotorsdesign) The sketch shows a low, long sedan that seems to be inspired (or perhaps served as the inspiration for) the Buick Wildcat concept revealed in June. However, there are significant differences as well. The sketch shows a profile that's more cab backward than the Wildcat's, with a gently sloping roofline that's more Audi A7 than the physical car's aggressive Nissan GT-R-like top.  The front end is less busy than the Wildcat's as well, with the chrome better integrated into the fascia and headlights. Similar brightwork appears on the rocker panels and on the fenders behind the wheel arches, cues the Wildcat concept lacks. Buick's updated logo sits at the end of a sporty BMW-esque trough on the hood. Of course, the exaggerated wheels have such little clearance they wouldn't really be able move or turn, much less survive a pothole, but we can forgive that artistic liberty. Other recent sketches shown on the GM Design account on Instagram show a more refined version of the same sedan, but without the Wildcat's Honda CR-V-esque taillights. Another super-luxurious coupe with hints of Syd Mead looks just as beautiful but is unbranded and may work better as a Cadillac. The Buick brand feels a bit redundant these days, but stunning designs like these could help differentiate the brand. The General has plenty of trucks and SUVs already. If it's going to foist crossover after crossover at us, maybe the Buick division could stand out as the sedan-and-coupe-only brand. Related video:

GM program sees dealers taking on way more loaner cars

Given the volume of vehicles we're talking about, this is a significant development for GM's bottom line. Bring your car into the dealership for service, and you may need a loaner car in exchange. And with so many recalls being carried out, that means a lot of loaners – especially at General Motors dealerships. That could be one of the reasons why GM is massively expanding its loaner fleet program. While many Chevrolet and Buick-GMC dealerships have an on-site rental car location operated by a third party like Enterprise (which may or may not provide a GM vehicle), others manage their own loaner fleets. But while the range of dealerships operating such fleets was once small, reports Automotive News, the number has been growing rapidly: from the locations responsible for only 20 percent of those brands' sales two years ago to about 90 percent today. The impetus for that growth comes down to a massive expansion of GM's Courtesy Transportation Program. The initiative encourages dealers to ramp up their loaner fleet to a maximum size determined by GM, with a mix determined by the dealer itself, so that a showroom in Texas can be bolstered with a fleet of pickup trucks and a dealer in California can employ more Volt and Camaro Convertible loaners. The dealership gets a $500 credit for each vehicle its puts in its fleet, and can use those vehicles as loaners for service customers, as multi-day test drivers or to rent out separately. The vehicles remain in the dealer's fleet for 90 days or 7,500 miles, then they can be sold as used, but with new-car incentives. The dealer gets a fleet of loaners, customers get to use the loaners, try out a new car overnight or buy a barely used car with attractive incentives, and GM gets to clock more sales. But therein lies the kicker: the automaker counts the dispatch of the loaner new vehicle to the dealership as a new-car sale, which could end up distorting its sales figures. Counting loaner vehicles as sold vehicles is something of an industry-standard practice, but given the volume of vehicles we're talking about, this is a significant development for GM's bottom line. One dealership - Paddock Chevrolet in Kenmore, NY, for example - had no loaner fleet two years ago, but now runs a fleet of 50 vehicles. Multiply that by the 4,000 or so dealers GM has across America and you're talking about the potential for hundreds of thousands of these sorts of sales.

GM cutting Chevy Sonic, Buick Verano production [UPDATE]

UPDATE: A previous version of this story indicated that Orion Assembly would be idled for seven weeks, from February 16 through April 6. This was incorrect. The factory will instead only be idled for the weeks of February 16 and April 6. The story has been edited to reflect this. General Motors has announced that the factory responsible for the Buick Verano and Chevrolet Sonic will be idled for the weeks of February 16 and April 6, with blame being placed on excess supply. The Orion Assembly plant, about 45 minutes north of GM's Renaissance Center headquarters, employs about 1,800 people, but they'll be given a pair of furloughs as inventories of the sub-compact Sonic and premium compact Verano reach 127 days and 84 days, respectively. That works out to 26,600 Chevys and 9,800 Buicks waiting for buyers. According to Automotive News, the compact Chevy sales bested the industry average in 2014, jumping up nine percent versus the the overall segment's eight-percent gain, while the Buick sedan's sales were down four percent. When asked about the shutdown, a GM spokesman told AN that it will "build to market demand," while also pointing out that the company did not comment on production plans. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Bill Pugliano / Getty Images Plants/Manufacturing Buick Chevrolet GM buick encore orion assembly