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Buick begins offering 24-hour test drives

Even as the year's sales charts show a decline, Buick says its brand image is improving. To bolster that soft metric while it works on overhauling its lineup - consumers are clamoring for more crossovers - the brand will begin offering overnight test drives as of July 23. Buick trialled the program in Phoenix and got a good response, so it rolls out as an ad-supported nationwide campaign called "24 Hours of Happiness" as of July 22. The push is on probation for three months while Buick evaluates it, but they expect it to continue beyond 90 days. Cars will be sourced from the loaner fleets that dealers offer customers whose cars are in for service, so only dealers with such fleets will be able to participate. General Motors did the same thing in 2003 and 2004, at the time saying it led to more than 500,000 "extended" test drives and close to 190,000 sales. That program had a cash component, in that buyers were offered $250 if they chose a non-GM vehicle after their test drive. 24 Hours of Happiness won't come with any inducements; Buick is taking the long view, positioning this as support for the brand instead of as bait for immediate returns. The Phoenix dealer who ran the program first said that it got fewer bites than he expected, but that customers who took a car home "were far more likely to buy the vehicle." Cue the Regal GS hooning in three, two... Related Video:

Hyundai, Buick dealer apologize in wake of Chinese baby social media incident

A very strange story out of China today, as Hyundai and a Chinese Buick dealer were forced to face allegations of using allusions to an infamous child murder on a social media site as a way of promoting the safety features of their respective vehicles.
The original sad tale goes something like this: On March 4, a man reported to police that he had left his infant child in a running Toyota RAV4 while he ran into a supermarket briefly. When he came back out, the vehicle and the child were gone. Later in the week a suspect turned himself in to the police; confessing to them that he had stolen a sport-utility vehicle, strangled the infant that was in it, and then buried the child in the snow.
As you might imagine, the gristly incident was covered massively in the Chinese media. (There was huge public outcry as well, as evidenced by the vigil scene, above.) "Changchun baby abduction" was very quickly amongst the highest ranking search teams of the China's Weibo social media site - an equivalent of Twitter in the English-speaking world.

Last-ever Buick Grand National heads to Barrett-Jackson auction

This 1987 Buick Grand National brought the curtains down on a heap of General Motors history. When this black beauty rolled down the line at 5 p.m. on December 11, 1987, it represented the end of manufacturing at GM's Pontiac Assembly Plant after 60 years building cars. This was the last car to sit on GM's G-Body platform, having supported legendary names like Monte Carlo, Cutlass Supreme, and Regal. And this was the last-ever Buick Grand National, a big coupe that in just five years on the market had helped make the Buick Regal lineup an object of sincere lust among enthusiasts. Powered by a 3.8-liter turbocharged and intercooled 3.8-liter V6, the engine made 245 horsepower and 355 pound-feet of torque. The only car above it in the lineup was the exceptionally rare GNX, which made 276 hp and 360 lb-ft. The Buick Grand National is headed to the Barrett-Jackson auction block in Scottsdale next month.    Louisiana resident Bob Colvin bought this car from the factory. The Drive spoke to Colvin, who explained that then-GM President Roger Smith told him he could have the penultimate Grand National, but Buick planned to put the last car on display. When Colvin arrived at the plant, though, Colvin said the plant manager told him, "I'm running this plant and you've gone through the effort to be here. It will be a real celebration," and got him the last car made. As proof, a GM film crew followed the car down the line, plant workers and two GM execs signed various parts of the engine, including current GM President Mark Reuss. The car comes with all of the autographs and signage the autoworkers created to go with the car, as well as the original window sticker. Colvin and his wife built an addition onto their house to display the car. Save for a trip to the Buick Centennial Celebration in 2003, the Buick has lived in its special place all its life and has just 33 miles on the odometer. Behind the new-car plastic that shrouds the interior, the only flaw appears to be a tiny crack in the steering wheel center cap where a bolt might have been overtorqued. The car is being offered with no reserve, the pre-sale estimate landing right around the $500,000 mark. That would about double recent auction sales for low-mileage GNX's this year, but there's every reason to believe this car's one-of-one place in history could get auction paddles waving.