Buick Avenir: An Appropriate Name For A Big New Sedan
Buick created shock waves mere hours before the first media day of the 2015 Detroit Auto Show when it took the wraps off a concept dubbed Avenir – simply French for “future”. The big luxury sedan prompted spontaneous and prolonged applause from a few hundred journalists and guests gathered in a huge renovated warehouse.
The Avenir’s long and powerful silhouette was designed by a group of GM Australia stylists, and its elegantly modern interior by a group of their North American colleagues. Both claim to have drawn inspiration from classic designs associated with a brand that is more than 100 years old, going back to the gorgeous Buick Y-Job, the company’s – and the industry’s – very first concept car, produced in 1938.
The Avenir’s big chrome “waterfall” grille recalls some of the majestic Buicks of the 1950s, and there is a reference to the sublime ’63 Riviera in the roof line and the curvaceous tail.
This is quite obviously more than just a styling exercise. Buick is at pains to make it clear that this big sedan would be powered by a new-generation V6 with direct injection, cylinder deactivation and auto stop/start.
It would have a dual-clutch 9-speed automatic, all-wheel drive, driver-selectable suspension damping and 21-inch wheels.
The four occupants would enjoy Buick’s next-generation IntelliLink infotainment system, with a 12 inch touchscreen, automatic recognition of driver preferences, wireless charging for electronic devices, a 4G LTE OnStar system with Wi-Fi hotspot, and ionic cabin air filtration.
All this is calculated to appeal to Chinese buyers, among others, who have a passion for the Buick brand and have to drive through megalopolises with very high levels of air pollution. From a position at the top of the Buick range, this new sedan would definitely help sales volume, which reached 1 million last year in China, almost four times as many as Buick sells in the whole of North America.
More than enough reason to rush to market with a production version of the Avenir, whose elegant and well chosen name already presages good things for a brand which the last Chinese emperor preferred over cars from Rolls-Royce early in the last century.