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Buick Cascada convertible likely dead after 2019

Opel announced it was discontinuing a few cars today, but the one that got our attention was the Cascada. The plan is to let the Opel Cascada live out its life until the end of 2019, with no replacement in the works. This brings into question the future of the Buick Cascada sold in the United States, since it's basically the same car and produced by Opel in the same factory in Poland. The Cascada has been on sale in other markets since 2012 badged as either an Opel or Vauxhall, but the Buick-badged car was only introduced in North America for the 2016 model year. Of course, Buick could decide to build the model beyond 2019, but it would need to find a new manufacturing location, convertibles aren't exactly popular, and the car would be egregiously old at that point. In other words, it looks like the Cascada is dead after 2019. We asked Buick what the game plan might be, and were told that there is nothing official to say at the moment. That's par for the course for something a manufacturer doesn't want to talk about yet, but it's also possible the announcement came as a surprise. Opel is no longer owned by GM, so the announcement actually came from the brand's new PSA ownership (the same French company that owns Peugeot and Citroen). As for the rationale behind the decision, that was a head scratcher, too. Opel/PSA said it was discontinuing the Cascada, as well as the subcompact Adam and Karl, in order to meet increasingly stringent emissions requirements and produce crossovers instead. This seems contradictory. Replacing a low-selling convertible and a pair of low-profit subcompacts with high-selling, high-profit crossovers sure seems like a solid business decision more than an emissions requirement one. Indeed, the Buick Cascada has never been a raging success in the United States either, with only 5,595 leaving the lots in 2017. It helped bring in some different kinds of customers to the Buick brand, but the impact is minute compared to a vehicle like the hot-selling Buick Encore. Related video: Featured Gallery 2019 Buick Cascada View 17 Photos Rumormill Buick Opel Convertible buick cascada

Buick dusting off Grand National, GNX and T-Type nameplates

Inside Line reports Buick is planning to bring back some of the more storied names from the company's past, including the Grand National, GNX and the T-Type. Those cars rose to prominence in the 1970s and '80s to become performance legends of their day.
The new models will reportedly make use of the rear-wheel drive platform that currently underpins the Cadillac ATS and all would arrive as sedans - according to an unnamed source familiar with the initiative. Odds are the T-Type and the Grand National would share a driveline, with honest money being on a new twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter V6 as the engine of choice. Word has it the mill will be good for anywhere from 350 to 400 horsepower.
That leaves only the GNX. Inside Line seems to think that machine could get down the road with some help from the all-new GM LT1 small-block V8. The engineers behind the ATS platform have already told us the engine bay is large enough for to accommodate the big eight pot, and since GM is most certainly working on an ATS-V, a slightly less powerful, less luxurious Buick iteration makes some kind of sense. We can't wait to see these things in the light of day.

Buick has best sales year ever, delivers over 1M cars globally

If there are any lingering doubts why General Motors held onto Buick while killing Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn, one only has to look at the sales numbers from 2013 for the real answer. Thanks largely to strong sales in China, Buick set a global sales record last year by selling more than one million vehicles.
The lion's share of Buick sales came from China, which sold more than 809,000 units - about four times more Buicks than were sold in North America as a whole. In the US, the Buick Encore accounted for almost half of all US sales with 97,311 units as Buick spent the summer trying to keep up with demand of the subcompact crossover. Likewise, China-only models like the GL8 minivan and Excelle sedan (same as the US-spec Verano) were strong sellers in that market.
For good measure, Buick more than doubled its sales in Mexico with 2,319 units. Scroll down for the full press release.