2014 Buick Lacrosse on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Trademarks indicate Buick Regal wagon could be on the way

American wagon fans have been waiting for General Motors to import a Buick-badged version of the Opel Insignia Sports Tourer since the current Insignia-based Regal hit dealers. If a new patent filing is any indication, that day could be coming soon. Then again, it might not mean anything. AutoGuide reports that Buick has filed two trademarks with the US Patent and Trademark Office for "Motor land vehicles, namely automobiles." You can see the trademarks for "Tourx" and "Regal Tourx" here and here. "Tour" smacks of wagon models, while the "x" – for all-wheel drive – makes us wonder if maybe we'll be seeing a rebadged version of the high-riding Opel Insignia Country Tourer (shown above). This isn't the first time Buick has stoked the hopes of US wagon fans, though. Earlier this year, trademarks were filed for the "Regal Sport Touring," a name that's very close to the Euro-market wagon's title. In fact, that trademark had the same description as the Tourx/Regal Tourx filings. As we've established before, automakers file trademarks all the time. It's far from a guarantee that anything will come of such trademarked names. Still, two wagon-ish filings with the USPTO from Buick in under a year makes it seem like there's at least someone at the Trishield brand that's campaigning for a long-roof Regal. Fight the good fight, friend. Related Video:

March Madness upsets good for auto advertisers

There are no Cinderella teams left in the NCAA men's basketball tournament - the fairytales ended with Georgia State's loss to Xavier over the weekend. And even though the Sweet 16 is composed of elite teams - at the time of writing the lowest-ranked squad is 11th-seeded UCLA, which has most championships of any school in the country - there are still underdogs and surprises, and they are good for NCAA business and advertisers. Last year the March Madness Live app, which allows users to watch games on the go, was downloaded 4.5 million times, a jump of more than 40 percent over 2013. Buick sponsors the iOS version of the app, but more than a million of those downloads were for the Android version, sponsored by Infiniti since 2011. Part of Buick's engagement is a "Boss Button" on the livestream sites that can quickly mask the page with something your boss won't question you over. It also sponsors a trick-shot competition for fans, has a display in Bracket Town during the Final Four, and its cars lead the team buses through the city. Infiniti said last year's tourney increased online searches for the brand by 25 percent in March, and things are going even better this year: it's round-by-round bracket game drew 477,859 total entries in 2014, this year's game has signed up 534,350 already and the tournament has another two weeks to go. The luxury brand is all over the event, promoting the QX60 through to the Final Four, then moving its efforts to the Q50. It sponsors the Coaches vs. Cancer charity and will have an Infiniti Lounge near the Final Four venue in downtown Indianapolis. So for the two automakers keeping their own scores... come on, Wichita State! Six brackets, six chances to win a trip to #FinalFour 2016. Official rules at http://t.co/4b9GyGJ4wP. #RoundByRound https://t.co/ZCsFatVlja - Infiniti USA (@InfinitiUSA) March 19, 2015 News Source: Automotive News - sub. req. Marketing/Advertising Buick Infiniti app sports ncaa march madness

Buick, GMC making OnStar Connected Services standard

The thing about the future is that so long as you're alive, you're going to get there whether you like it or not. Thanks to over-the-air connections essentially being a compulsory part of EV ownership and an increasingly important — and profitable — component of ICE ownership, it's easiest for automakers to install full-featured Internet connections in every vehicle. GM has taken the first step, a report in GM Authority saying that as of June 2, all Buick and GMC models are sold with the Onstar Connected Services plan good for three years. The OnStar site shows the Connected Vehicle tier that comes with a Wi-Fi hotspot costs $24.99 per month, which would be $900 minus a few pennies for three years. At the top end is OnStar Premium that runs about $1,800 for three years. Both include Connected Services features, yet GMA reports that depending on the vehicles, OnStar Connected Services will cost between $905 and $1,675. Only the GMC Hummer EV Edition 1 is excluded for now. GM confirmed the change to GM Authority, saying, "This offering provides our owners with a full suite of OnStar and Connected Services for three years, providing them with more time to enjoy services such as remote key fob, Wi-Fi data and OnStar safety services. By including this plan as standard equipment on the vehicle, it provides more customer value and a more seamless onboarding experience." Three trims of the GMC Sierra 1500 and two trims of the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL come in at the low end, OnStar adding $905 to their MSRPs. Almost every other vehicle gets hit with a $1,500 charge. The GMC Sierra HD Pro is the only model to charge $1,675 for it, which GMA breaks out as a "$1,500 3-year subscription and $175 OnStar & GMC Connected Services Capability." This brings up the question of the price differences; we can't tell if there's a difference in feature content between the price tiers, or why the Sierra HD gets the extra $175 fee. The automaker told GMA the upcharge will be folded into the MSRP. On the configurator for the Sierra 1500 SLE, for instance, the dialog box for three years of OnStar at $1,500 is automatically checked and can't be unchecked. The Buick configurators we tried don't mention OnStar.