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Buick celebrates 110 years by naming most significant model of each decade

In May of 1903, Buick began work on its first vehicle, the 1904 Model B, the first example of which was sold to a doctor in Flint, Michigan. That first sale was appropriate since later on, Buick became known as a "doctor's car." The Model B is the first of 11 cars chosen by Buick to highlight each decade of the company's 110-year history.
The 1916 D-45 Touring with a six-cylinder engine was Buick's highest seller that year, and helped push overall sales past six figures for the first time, making Buick the top-selling automotive brand. In 1931, Series 50 got an eight-cylinder engine, which helped the company survive the Great Depression. The 1936 Century was the first Buick that could hit 100 miles per hour, the 1949 Roadmaster had a supporting role in Rain Man, the 1953 Skylark had Italian wire wheels and the owner's name engraved on its steering wheel.
Then we have the iconic 1963 Riviera, the V6-powered 1975 Regal, and in 1987, the legendary GNX. With a turbocharged, intercooled V6 pumping out 276-horsepower it could hit 60 mph in just 4.6 seconds. In 1999 Buick built the first car in China, the Century, and that country remains the brand's largest market.

The new Opel Insignia might be a great Buick, but it's a sad Holden Commodore

Since the first shots of the uncovered Opel Insignia hit our inboxes, we've been filled with excitement for the new sedan. It looks great, it should come to America with little to no visual changes as the Buick Regal, and we might even get a wagon version. Unfortunately, there's a lead lining to this silver cloud, and it comes to us from Down Under. You see, the Opel Insignia is also undergoing a re-badging job in Australia to become the new Holden Commodore. It's replacing the beloved rear-drive Commodore (with an optional V8 and ultra-high performance HSV variants) with a front-drive-based platform offering four- or six-cylinder engines. This is depressing news considering the Zeta-platform underpinning the Commodore VF spawned the Pontiac G8, Chevrolet SS, and fifth-generation Camaro. Knowing this was going to happen doesn't help much either. What makes it all worse is that the new Commodore doesn't have a shred of unique styling in the bodywork. That's not an exaggeration. A new grille with a Holden lion badge instead of an Opel lightning bolt badge is the only change. See for yourself in the Insignia gallery below. Not only did GM erase a unique Australian model, it didn't even allow the brand to give the car a distinct shape. It's sort of like when Ford planned to replace the Mustang with the Mazda-derived Probe. The Probe wasn't that bad for the time, but it was no Mustang. At least in that case the Mustang survived. View 12 Photos Before we get ourselves too down, we should mention that there are reasons to be hopeful for the future. For one thing, the new all-wheel-drive Commodore/Insignias will come with a version of the GKN-developed rear differential found in the Focus RS and Range Rover Evoque, which is pretty neat on its own. And Opel/Vauxhall have always had wild performance versions of the Insignia and its Vectra predecessor. The last one made 325-horsepower and had all-wheel-drive. A new one would likely produce much more, since one of the available V6s makes 308 horsepower. Then imagine all of that extra hypothetical horsepower hooked up to the all-wheel-drive system that introduced us to "drift mode." Not only that, but rear-drive Holdens may not be completely dead yet. A Belgian man announced his intention to buy an old Holden factory along with the tooling and rights for the car once it was discontinued. His plan is to continue producing the old model after Holden is done with it.

2018 Buick Enclave First Drive Review | Fortress of quietude

ATLANTA, Ga. — The 2018 Enclave is part of Buick's effort to reinvigorate its brand, positioning itself as a maker of "attainable luxury" vehicles. That means a total redesign, a number of safety and technology upgrades, and the introduction of the Avenir sub-brand (think of that last one as sort of the Denali of Buick). It also means more space and more luxury. With this in mind, we traveled to Atlanta to get to know the new Enclave, both in the city and on a long drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains into North Carolina. Our first impressions of the new Enclave came not from the driver's seat, but from a captain's chair in the second row (which is the traditional seating arrangement for a true captain, of course). We were riding from the Atlanta airport to a studio to learn more about the vehicle. That very first impression was, "Wow, this interior is really nice." The leather upon which we sat was soft, smooth to the touch, and interesting in its shapeliness. Looking around the cabin, we saw a lot of gentle curves and thoughtful accents that made the inside of the Enclave feel downright premium. It was a fresh and airy sense of taste though, and definitely not the seasoned wood-and-whiskey stodginess one might expect from the Buick name. Our second impression: "Boy, it's quiet in here." Heading toward downtown Atlanta on the freeway, we were unable to pick up wind noise, and only just a smidge of road noise as the Enclave trundled over the occasional rough patch of pavement. This is, of course, completely intentional on the part of Buick. The windshield and front windows use acoustic glass. The doors are triple sealed for a tighter, quieter fit when closed. Buick has insulated the Enclave with more sound deadening and included active noise cancellation. "Our goal is to make it as social as possible," said Dean Perelli, chief engineer for the Enclave. And social it is. It is easy to carry on conversation across the Enclave's three roomy rows. When we got out of the Enclave, we had a chance to take it in from the outside. It features attractive, wing-like lighting front and rear. The front signature lighting uses technology called "Evonik Acrylite," (a mouthful, even for the engineers) which is a polycarbonate material arranged in a dazzling, faceted and delicate array. The paint finishes we saw were attractive, with depth.