2010 Saab 9-5 to be reborn in the US as a Buick

As Saab struggles to cling to survival, a Swedish newspaper, Dagens Industri, has report that GM is ’seriously considering’ using the near-ready 9-5 model as its next Buick.

The 9-5 share much of its development with the Opel Insignia, itself already used to underpin at least one Buick model, but in order to avoid overlap, the report suggests the 9-5 may present a more radical option for Buick buyers, and could perhaps feature as the next LaCrosse, Regal or Excelle sedan.

With GM already treating Buick as a kind of testing ground for new designs, one of the most modern Saabs yet shaped could easily feel at home in the US if sold under the more familiar Buick nameplate. The move would also see the 9-5 finally attain volume sales.

GM needs new Buick Regal, Chevy Cruze to be hits

DETROIT—Two General Motors cars due in showrooms next year must be hits to help the automaker turn around sales and pay back its big debt to U.S. taxpayers.

The Buick Regal midsize sedan and Chevrolet Cruze compact, both sold in key segments of the U.S. car market, face stiff competition and other obstacles to success.

GM was to roll out the Regal on Thursday in Los Angeles, and it's counting on the sleek-looking sedan to claw out a new market for the once-stodgy Buick, now the official brand of bingo night at the senior center.

Buick has been absent from the tough midsize market since 2004, while the Cruze was recently put on hold because GM wasn't happy with how it drove.

Executives have high hopes that the Regal, much of it designed by GM's Opel engineers in Ruesselsheim, Germany, can help bring younger buyers to Buick, crucial to the brand's long-term growth. Currently the median age of a Buick customer is around 68, but GM is targeting new models for those in their 40s and 50s, said Craig Bierley, Buick's product marketing director.

"Clearly having a midsize entry is absolutely critical for us," Bierley said.

Buick sales so far this year are down 33 percent compared with last year, worse than the overall U.S. market, which is off 25 percent.

Midsize cars like Toyota's Camry, the perennial sales leader, are attractive to young families and baby boomers who are downsizing their vehicles. They typically can haul five people and have decent trunk space. Also, several entries get well over 30 mpg on the highway, making them the default buy for those who need space but are concerned about the return of $4 per gallon gasoline.

So far this year, the midsize segment is the biggest part of the U.S. car market, making up 47 percent of sales. Camry dominates the segment with 294,000 sales.

GM has no margin for error with the Regal or any other new vehicle, said David Koehler, a clinical marketing professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"Their success in the future is riding on these new launches," he said.

The new Regal, due in showrooms in the second quarter of next year, is aimed at those who want a car that's fun to drive yet is practical. The Regal has three ride settings (normal sport and touring) and is smart enough to tailor the car to the way people drive, Bierley said.

The 2011 Buick Regal sedan is shown at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Mich., Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009. GM will roll out the sporty Regal on Thursday with an event in Los Angeles, and it's counting on sleek-looking the five-seat car to claw out a new market for Buick. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

The Regal is designed to compete with the sporty Acura TSX made by the Honda luxury brand, and the Volvo S60.

Pricing wasn't announced, but it will be between the mainstream midsize Chevrolet Malibu at $21,325 and the $27,835 base price of a larger new Buick, the LaCrosse, aimed at luxury buyers.

The flabby old Regal, discontinued five years ago in part because it couldn't compete with the Camry and Honda's Accord, bears little resemblance to the new one, which Bierley said is equipped only with four-cylinder engines to boost fuel economy.

At first the car will have only one engine choice, a 2.4-liter, 182 horsepower powerplant that gets around 30 mpg on the freeway. By next summer, a 220-horsepower 2-liter turbocharged four with power comparable to a V-6 also will be available.

Stephanie Brinley, an analyst with the AutoPacific marketing and consulting firm, predicts that GM will sell about 40,000 Regals in its first full year, not a huge number but enough to bring critical profits to GM. Last year, Acura sold almost exactly 40,000 TSX models.

"It doesn't really matter how many they sell of the Regal. It matters if it's profitable," she said.

Koehler said even more is riding on the smaller Cruze, which must sell in larger numbers than the Regal because of its lower profit margins. The Cruze will be targeted at younger entry-level buyers as well as those seeking fuel economy. It's supposed to get around 40 mpg on the highway.

But GM postponed the Cruze's April build date about three months, said Mark Reuss, GM's vice president of global vehicle engineering.

The company, he said, wasn't happy with the Cruze's performance, especially with the six-automatic transmission.

"No one was thrilled with where it shifted, how it shifted," he said in an interview.

source: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/11/12/gm_needs_new_buick_regal_chevy_cruze_to_be_hits/

Nissan's electric vehicle tilts into corners

ATSUGI, Japan — Nissan's Land Glider electric vehicle tilt from side to side, sashaying into curves by up to a 17-degree angle, as though showing off in a fashion declaration that it's zero-emissions.

The wheel segments of the car can move separately from the cabin, allow the car, still an experimental concept model, to sway and swerve, almost like a motorcycle.

Nissan Motor Co. project design director Takashi Nakjima says Land Glider is designed to be a "personal city commuter."


In a demonstration for reporters, the car glided roughly on a test course at Nissan's design center, outside Tokyo, leaning slowly to one side, and then the other, as it turned tight corners.

Just 110 centimeters (43 inches) wide, Land Glider has sensors to calculate speed and level of lean required for corners, and can maneuver through narrow streets and fit into tight parking spaces, according to Yokohama-based Nissan.

People aboard sit in a line, one behind the other, not next to each other as in traditional two-seaters.

Reporters got a preview look of the "concept model" but no test drive, of the Land Glider. There are no immediate plans for profit-making production.


It will have its world premiere at the Tokyo Motor Show, opening to media Oct. 21, two days before its formal opening. The show runs through Nov. 4 in the Tokyo suburb of Chiba.

Japanese rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. are also showing nifty electric vehicles at the show.

Toyota's FT-EV II has a roomy cube design, a relatively conventional look for electric cars. But Honda's EV-N is small and cute with an intentionally old-fashioned car shape.

"We feel exploratory efforts in electric vehicles have entered a new stage" with Land Glider, Nakajima said.


Japanese automakers say electric vehicles will largely be used initially for limited range, commuter travel.


Nissan is among the first to offer an electric vehicle, set to go on sale in Japan, the U.S. and Europe next year — the rather regular-looking Leaf.

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