1965 Buick Riviera Gran Sport 7.0l on 2040-cars

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Buick adds Sport Touring trim to sedan lineup

Buick has made a few tweaks to its sedan lineup today, announcing that a new Sport Touring trim will be offered on the LaCrosse, Regal, and Verano. It's best to think of the new Sport Touring models as Buick's answer to Chevrolet's limited range of RS models, focusing on very small style changes rather than any added performance. Best to leave that to the Regal GS, we guess. For the ST trim, Buick has fitted its three four-doors with new 18-inch wheels. These relatively sporty hoops get machined faces with black inserts, like those offered on the Encore Sport Touring and the Enclave Tuscan Edition. Also coming to the LaCrosse, Regal, and Verano Sport Touring is a new rear spoiler. Like we said, these are simple styling packs meant to spice up the staid but handsome exteriors of the brand's sedans. "These new ST models underscore the importance of design choices, while complementing the safety, refinement and connectivity technologies that are drawing new customers to Buick dealerships," Buick VP Duncan Aldred said in the attached statement. The new trim level will be available on all three vehicles this fall, with prices to be announced closer to the on-sale date. Scroll on for the official presser from Buick. Related Video: Buick Expands 2016 Sport Touring Lineup Distinctive sedans join Enclave Tuscan Edition, Encore Sport Touring DETROIT – Buick unveiled 2016 LaCrosse, Regal and Verano Sport Touring (ST) models today – sedans with distinctive exterior cues designed to set them apart from the pack. Each features special 18-inch wheels with machined faces and black "pockets," and a rear spoiler. They join the Enclave Tuscan Edition and recently announced Encore Sport Touring as special models expanding Buick's lineup with more design-focused choices. "Buick is reaching an all-new generation of customers by reinventing itself in terms of design, function and capabilities," said Duncan Aldred, vice president of Buick. "These new ST models underscore the importance of design choices, while complementing the safety, refinement and connectivity technologies that are drawing new customers to Buick dealerships." The new Sport Touring sedans – and Encore Sport Touring – go on sale this fall. LaCrosse Sport Touring includes Buick IntelliLink with Apple CarPlay capability, OnStar 4G LTE connectivity with Wi-Fi hotspot, remote start, eight standard air bags (including rear-seat thorax air bags) and leather-trimmed seats – with heated front seats.

Buick Envision to go on sale in third quarter of 2015

Following an earlier concept and successive teasers, Buick revealed the new Envision crossover a little over a month ago. The thing is, it was launched in China, for China. The question, then, is whether it will make the jump to the North American market. And the answer is: quite possibly.
According to division sales chief Duncan Aldred in speaking to Edmunds, Buick is looking into the prospect of bringing the Envision to the US: "We can't confirm anything, but clearly it is a very nicely designed and executed product that is very much a Buick," said Aldred.
If and when the compact crossover would appear in US showrooms, it would slot in between the smaller Encore and the larger Enclave. It would likely be offered in front-wheel drive, all-wheel drive and mild hybrid configurations. Sources expect it to arrive in the third quarter of 2015 as a competitor to the likes of the Mercedes GLA, Lexus NX and Lincoln MKC.

Frustrated GM investors ask what more Mary Barra can do

DETROIT — General Motors Co Chief Executive Mary Barra has transformed the No. 1 U.S. automaker in her almost five years in charge, but that is still not enough to satisfy investors. Ahead of third-quarter results due on Oct. 31, GM shares are trading about 6 percent below the $33 per share price at which they launched in 2010 in a post-bankruptcy initial public offering. The Detroit carmaker's stock is down 22 percent since Barra took over in January 2014. After hitting an all-time high of $46.48 on Oct. 24, 2017, the shares have declined 33 percent. In the same period, the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed 7.8 percent. Several shareholders contacted by Reuters said GM could face a third major action by activist shareholders in less than four years if the share price does not improve. "I've been expecting it," said John Levin, chairman of Levin Capital Strategies. "It just seems a tempting morsel to somebody." Levin's firm owns more than seven million GM shares. Barra has guided the company through the settlement of a federal criminal probe of a mishandled safety recall, sold off money-losing European operations, and returned $25 billion to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks from 2012 through 2017. GM declined to comment for this story, but the company's executives privately express frustration with the market's reluctance to see it as anything more than a manufacturer tied mainly to auto market sales cycles. GM's profitable North American truck and SUV business and its money-making China operations are valued at just $14 billion, excluding the value of GM's stake in its $14.6 billion Cruise automated vehicle business and its cash reserves from its $44 billion market capitalization. The recent slump in the Chinese market, GM's largest, and plateauing U.S. demand are ratcheting up the pressure. GM is one of the few global automakers without a founding family or a government to serve as a bulwark against corporate raiders. In 2015, a group led by investor Harry Wilson pressed GM to launch a $5 billion share buyback, and commit to what is now an $18 billion ceiling on the level of cash the company would hold. In 2017, GM fended off a call by hedge fund manager David Einhorn to split its common stock shares into two classes. Einhorn, whose firm still owned more than 21 million shares at the end of June, declined to comment about GM's stock price. Other investors said there were no clear alternatives to Barra's approach.