The Wildcat EV concept, shown, hints at the brand’s design philosophy.
As GMC launched the Hummer EV supertruck late last year, its sibling, Buick, was waiting in the wings.
At the SEMA Show in November, Duncan Aldred, global vice president for both brands, was inspired by a 1963 Buick Electra that had been electrified by actor James Marsden.
"That was like the final piece of the jigsaw for me," Aldred told Automotive News.
Duncan Aldred, vice president of global Buick and GMC, said GM’s Ultium battery architecture will give Buick’s coming EVs more cabin space.
Now, Buick is committing to rolling out a full lineup of electric vehicles that will revive the Electra name and ending sales of its gasoline-powered vehicles in North America by the end of the decade. The brand will transition to EVs roughly in parallel with Cadillac and push General Motors closer to its goal of selling only zero-emission light vehicles by 2035.
Going all-EV was "something we'd been really planning on for a long period of time," Aldred said. "But actually being in the audience for that one, it just felt so perfect."
Buick, which also updated its logo last week to signal the coming overhaul of its lineup, does not plan to launch any new internal-combustion vehicles after 2024, when its first EV is scheduled to arrive. Dealers will sell EVs and combustion vehicles simultaneously until 2030.
The brand gave a hint of its future design philosophy last week by unveiling an EV concept called the Wildcat. The car shows how Buick intends to give its vehicles a more sculptural look, wider stance and more spacious interior.
According to Buick, the Wildcat electric vehicle concept unveiled this week features cantilevered headrests that appear to be floating.
The character of Buick's current crossover portfolio — along with its focus on a quiet, safe ride — position the brand to succeed as the industry transitions to EVs, Aldred said.
"I feel Buick is more naturally placed to really win as the adoption hastens, probably more than any other brand I can think of," he said.
All of the upcoming EVs will be called Electras — a name Buick last used in 1990 — plus an alphanumeric to differentiate the models.
"Sometimes people almost think it means this happens tomorrow, but clearly that's not the case. We've got a phenomenal range of vehicles in the marketplace today," Aldred said. "We're going to be playing in the emerging EV space, but also obviously in the existing combustion-engine space. We're very optimistic and aggressive about the volumes we will achieve through this period."
AutoForecast Solutions expects Buick to launch its EV lineup with an Envision-sized crossover. Buick did not provide more details about its EV rollout plan.
In 2020, Buick transitioned to an all-crossover lineup in North America, dropping the Regal sedan. Aldred doubts the crossover appeal will change with EVs but said Buick will monitor adoption rates while planning its portfolio.
"There will probably be less entrants in some of those segments as well," he said. "From a competitive point of view, the actual opportunity could be equally as big as it is today or even bigger. While the overall market size may be less, there will be less entrants fighting for that volume."
Buick's updated tri-shield logo — the first change it has made since 1990 — will be body-mounted on the front of Buick vehicles starting next year and on the upcoming EVs. Buick's new image also will feature different typography, an updated color palette and a fresh marketing approach, the brand said in a statement.
Buick will distinguish its EVs from its combustion-engine vehicles with the Electra name, but they will share a design philosophy. The EVs will have more space inside the cabin and often a wider stance because of GM's Ultium battery architecture, Aldred said.
"The familiarity across the vehicles will be there," Aldred said. "We're not trying to create Russian dolls within our portfolio. Each vehicle will have its own distinct character, but it will have a familiarity which joins all the vehicles together."
Buick plans to introduce five EVs in China by 2025, but the brand has not yet announced plans to convert its entire portfolio in China — the world's largest vehicle market — and other countries, to EVs. The vehicles will carry the Electra name globally, said Rob Peterson, marketing manager for Buick.
"The power of the brand comes from the consistency in the product that we offer between the two," Peterson said. "But how you market those vehicles is unique to an American customer versus a customer in China."
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