Buick Electra Wagon.
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Buick showed a new wagon Concept based on the Ultium platform last year. A production version of that Buick Electra LT Concept will probably show up soon in China. But how about something for the US market? Something that looks a little bit more like a modern North American Buick wagon.
The last time we saw a Buick wagon over here was in 2020. When GM decided to import the German Opel insignia wagon a sell it over here as a Buick Regal Tour X starting in 2018. Trying to compete against the Subaru Outback. I personally think the Tour X looked great, but Buick was probably the wrong GM brand to try and compete against Subaru. And the Opel wagon even slightly raised up just didn’t have the AWD chops to be considered by most Subaru buyers.
It’s interesting to mention that the Regal sedan is still on sale in China. Even though GM sold Opel years ago.
The most famous Buick wagon was of course the Roadmaster. The Roadmaster started life in 1936. It wasn’t produced all the way to 1996 without any interruptions. As there was no Roadmaster produced in 1944 and 1945. And especially, the name was discontinued after 1958. Production started again for one last generation from 1991 to 1996.
After 33 years the Buick Roadmaster returned in 1991 and shared its B-body platform with the Chevrolet Caprice, sedan, and wagon. As well as the Oldsmobile custom cruiser. The Cadillac version of these cars used a slightly different D-body platform.
Sales were pretty impressive in 1992 with over 70,000 sold. However, by 1996, that number had gone down to 21,500. GM discontinued the whole thing. By then, large sedans weren’t a thing anymore. and huge wagons like the Roadmaster were already being replaced by large SUVs.
It seems more and more people are getting tired of the non-stop SUV models we see these days. A new Buick wagon would be quite refreshing these days.
GM has a very versatile Ultium platform already used on many vehicles of different sizes. An Ultium-based large Buick wagon wouldn’t seem to be an impossible thing to do. Especially since the Chinese market loves Buick. and has nothing against new wagons with many currently offered.
I also think Buick could offer something sleeker and better-looking than the new Enclave. Which to me seems like a step back from the previous generation.
However, wagon sales are indeed in trouble. There are rumors of even Volvo abandoning their wagons soon. The new and really nice Audi e-tron Wagon is not coming to the US.
Still. Why not?
