Buick will revamp its image with more sculptural vehicle designs — as seen on the Wildcat concept EV unveiled on Wednesday — a new logo and other aesthetic updates. The brand’s emblem, which orients the classic Buick tri-shield horizontally instead of diagonally, marks the first change to the badge since 1990.
The logo will be body-mounted on the front of Buick vehicles starting next year and on the upcoming EVs. Buick’s new brand image also will feature different typography, an updated color palette and a new 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 has not yet announced plans to convert its portfolio in China — the world’s largest vehicle market — and other countries, to EVs. But the vehicles will carry the Electra name globally, Peterson said.
“The power of the brand comes from the consistency in the product that we offer between the two. But how you market those vehicles is unique to an American customer versus a customer in China,” he said.
At the SEMA Show last year, Aldred saw a version of the 1960s-era Buick Electra that had been electrified by actor James Marsden and his team.
“That was like the final piece of the jigsaw for me. [It 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.”