I recently reported that a new electric Buick Sedan was launched in China called the Electra L7. I wonder why our Noord -Marican Buick -Line -Up does not look so good. The L7 is part of a new Chinese sub -brand of electric vehicles (EVs) at Buick. It looks absolutely fantastic. It is powered by smart and innovative lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, and it is even supplied with a reach extension, which results in a total combined range of 870 miles. Damn.
Look, I understand that we no longer buy sedans here, but when you compare our Buick -Line -Up with that of China, you quickly wonder what went wrong. All Buick vehicles are reclassified versions of a Chevrolet. They are now all SUVs and crossovers. This is an American car maker, but the best things that Buick sells is not sold to Americans at all. And now Buick’s Electra Division in China showed just a different forbidden fruit. It is a concept car called the Baan and God. It is beautiful.
Available models
Buick
- Set up
-
1899
- Founder
-
David Dunbar Buick
- Headquarters
-
Detroit, Michigan, USA
- Current CEO
-
Mary Barra
- Ownership of
-
General Motors
The Buick Electra Orbit is a design exercise … for now
Written by the GM China Advanced Design Center, the Electra Orbit is for the time being nothing more than a design exercise. But GM says it is based on his recently developed platform with the Chinese partner SAIC. The architecture has the possibility to be flexible, allowing Buick to build both EVs and vehicles that are powered by internal combustion engines (Ices), and integrate hybrid and plug-in hybrid options. The goal here is just to explore new ideas in design, while using part of the car maker’s past. But man. We need this.
There are so many neat design instructions here that should go in Buick’s production cars, starting with the front-end of the track that reminds me of a futuristic oldsmobile aurora. Don’t ask me why I think that’s cool. But that’s it. Van Buick’s Stuart Norris, Vice-President of Design for GM China and GM International and Head of Design at SAIC-GM:
Electra Orbit is a daring exploration of what Buick can be when we combine heritage inspiration with visionary innovation. By reinterpreting motifs and pushing freedoms of electrical architecture, we wanted to create a concept that feels both known in his Buick DNA and exciting new.
The design clearly gets its inspiration from spacecraft, space travel and, more importantly, the cool concept cars that Buick released in the 1950s. This is clear because of the long and dominant boat tail design of the car that easily wraps itself around the back through a large LED light beam rear light setup. The car is not only incredibly streamlined, which makes sense to EVs, but also gives the track such a dominant and contemporary look. It also enabled the designers to play with the proportions and posture of the car, which stretched the bulging wheel arches with solid wheels that were stretched all the way to the extremities of the car.
Retro-futurism design at its best
Similar to what Cadillac did with the flagship of Celestiq, the Buick Electra Orbit-concept is a perfect example of retro-futurism that has been done well. It looks and feels like something from the past, but if you look closer, it is really a car from the future, one that also contains the type of technology that we will expect in cars towards the end of this decade. The interior is like a large lounge, with space for four people. There is a lot of passenger space, it is very light there and the entire design theme revolves around minimalism.
The majority of the link is hidden or digital, because the track can switch from driving to driving in an instant. It is full of artificial intelligence functions to communicate, learn and even suggest with you. And it is equipped with things like a “digital illusion carpet”, which apparently evokes the wrist of heavenly elements. Buick’s words, not mine. Anyway, this thing is super cool.
Why Buick needs this in America
Although Buick recently tried to solve his line-up through more brand-specific design themes, it is not what I would qualify as the most exciting line-up in the industry. Only the Envista succeeds in one way or another to separate, which further proves that Buick must be a design -controlled brand, and not one that is controlled by GM’s counters. Although the Envista is nothing more than a semi-lust Chevrolet Trax, it looks and feels like something that distinguishes totally.
What I am talking about is that Buick has to use the past and include some of the design instructions of this concept in some of its vehicles. Fine, keep using Chevrolet platforms and powerplants. What does it matter? What people want is a Buick that does not feel like a job for Badge Engineering, but again a great American car company.
And why wouldn’t you try with a new, fully electric sedan based on GM’s EV technology? The world has changed, and with newcomers in that space such as the Tesla Model 3, Polestar 2, Mercedes-Benz CLA and BMW’s upcoming Neue Class line of electric sedans, I can see a world where a Buick takes them all with a sexy, retro-inspired, all-American electric sedan. By the way, why does China get all the cool things?
#Buick #party #continues #China #invited