[Mr. Wyndham]

I think this is an example of how Buick will soon become a legitimate** brand again! I also think it's good to do this, because they'll be able to get some experience designing and developing a small luxury car before diving into the much-anticipated 3-series-sized Cadillac.


**"Legitimate" assuming you think, like me, Buick has been somewhat forgettable before the Enclave, and 2010 LaCrosse....

GM Enters New Turf With Premium Compact Buick

DETROIT -(Dow Jones)- General Motors Co. will mark its first serious foray into the U.S. premium compact-car segment early next decade when it launches a compact Buick, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said Friday.

The move will be a virtually untested venture for Detroit, where small cars have long been synonymous with entry-level, lower-budget offerings. It is a sign of things to come for the U.S. auto industry as stricter fuel-economy regulations take hold and force car makers to turn out smaller, more fuel- efficient cars.

GM has sold compact Buicks in the past, but not with the features, upscale design and higher price point planned for Buick, Lutz said. He said GM aims to avoid habits of the past with the new Buick.

The auto maker in the 1980s and 1990s sold Buick versions -the Skyhawk and Skylark - of the Chevrolet Cavalier economy car and only slightly higher-scale Pontiac Grand Am. The vehicles were discontinued due to low demand. In the 1980s, the compact Cadillac Cimarron bombed with critics and consumers.

"No more cheap Buicks sold at Chevy prices," Lutz said. "This will be an elegantly sporty, four-door sedan." Lutz, who previously headed product development, announced this month he would "unretire" to take over GM marketing. Few vehicles on the market today would compete directly with the new Buick as conceived by GM, said auto analyst Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics Hall.

Some come close. The small BMW 1 Series is a sporty, luxury coupe and more high end than Buick. Volvo and Audi, both premium brands, have compact cars, but they are wagons, while the new Buick will be a four-door. The well-received Acura TSX competes in the same realm as a four-door compact luxury car. In the depressed auto market, TSX sales are down 20% through July, compared with Acura's 34% overall decline.

Of Buick's success, Hall said, "It's literally all going to depend on two things: Pricing can't be too cheap but it can't be too expensive. And it's going to have to have effective marketing."

Lutz, who was critical of the marketing campaign for the recently launched Buick LaCrosse, is working to overhaul the way GM markets vehicles, aiming for ads more focused on product and less on celebrities and exotic locals.

The new Buick, which GM is testing as a prototype at its proving grounds in Milford, Mich., would go on sale early next decade, as soon as 2011. A final name and pricing have yet to be announced. GM initially conceived the Buick as a wagon to replace the Saturn Astra hatchback, which is being discontinued as GM sells the entire Saturn brand. But Lutz said GM concluded the wagons, however practical and attractive, won't win over U.S. consumers. "They just don't do well here" he said. The car will share some design and other elements of the Astra, which was popular with critics but snubbed by consumers, he said. It will be a four-door that shares a platform with the Astra and soon-to-launch Chevrolet Cruze.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/...8_FORTUNE5.htm