"Yes, despite Buick's average age buyer, which is around 60, the GM brand is on all the social media channels. And while many consumers would not consider Buick a real "luxury" brand in the class of Lexus or BMW, the company has been driving that idea home with new product and advertising for more than a year. Buick last year was the fastest growing brand in the U.S. among major auto companies, and in it outsold Lexus in the first two months of this year.
"People are absolutely taking Buick seriously as a modern luxury brand," says Tony DiSalle, U.S. vice president of marketing. In a new ad for the Buick Regal Turbo, which basketball fans will see this week, the man driving the Regal is about 30 years old, and he looks like he has money.
Buick does not have the obvious brand cachet of GM's Cadillac brand, BMW, or Mercedes-Benz. "That's right," says DiSalle. "Buick is a luxury brand, but for people who don't necessary want to be loud and obvious about it." Some auto reviewers, in fact, have praised the new Buick LaCrosse as being better than Lexus. Buick engineers actually studied Lexus sedans to beat the Japanese brand on cabin quietness and other key measures to which luxury buyers pay attention."
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