Buick plans lineup expansion

By Jason Stein
Automotive News / December 20, 2004

DETROIT -- General Motors' next rear-wheel-drive premium vehicles will expand Buick's product line significantly and give consumers more options - sporty cars and comfy sedans.

Michael Simcoe, GM's new executive director of body frame integral design, says the automaker's new Zeta architecture will extend Buick's product portfolio.

"We will play at both ends," Simcoe says. "We can have prestigious luxury and prestigious sport."

Within two years, Zeta will debut on a Buick sedan. A coupe and possibly a convertible will follow.

Simcoe says Zeta, which will be engineered by GM's Australian subsidiary Holden Ltd., will be a key component in GM's overall strategy for global products.

Simcoe should know. Before being appointed to his position on Aug. 1, Simcoe was executive director for design in GM's Asia-Pacific region. He was responsible for the design strategy at GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. and Holden.

Zeta is an evolution in the way GM thinks about product development, he says.

"Zeta is the classic case of GM seeing an architecture around the globe," Simcoe says. "The way it used to work was if it wasn't North American, it wasn't appropriate.

"But there is a lot of potential there with Zeta. There is freedom to do more."

As such, Zeta will offer that freedom to GM's product planners."We are getting encouragement coming from all sides to do as much as we can with it in terms of flexibility," Simcoe says. "That means more variants and more ability to move up and down when it comes to price."

Zeta will debut with Pontiac in the next-generation GTO - but the design won't be retro, he says.

"I wouldn't want retro," Simcoe says. "What the market wants is something that will stand out."


http://www.autonews.com/article.cms?articleId=51032

I think it's a pretty good idea for Buick to make a sports coupe again.