Buick Isn't The Brand You Think It Is

Miami Herald

11-05-2025

General Motors has long portrayed itself as a company of brands. It's one where buyers start with an entry-level Chevrolet and work their way up through Cadillac. And for many longtime consumers, that message still resonates. But the reality is different.
While Buick has long marketed its status as residing just below Cadillac in GM's pecking order, that's no longer the case. The average transaction price (or ATP) paid for a Buick is the lowest among GM brands, according to Cox Automotive. In March 2025, buyers paid an average of $74,078 for a Cadillac, $64,946 for a GMC, $47,175 for a Chevrolet, and just $35,745 for a Buick.
In fact, among car brands sold in America, Buick's $35,745 ATP is the fourth-lowest in the industry, topping only Subaru at $35,076, Nissan at $32,809, and Mitsubishi at $31,692. Buick's pricing is lower than Mazda ($36,117), Kia ($36,716), Hyundai ($37,209), Honda ($37,537), and Dodge ($49,548). It has a long way to go before reaching such true premium players as Acura ($52,590), but never mind GMC ($64,946), with which it shares showrooms. While Buick is portrayed as a premium brand, its pricing tells a far different story. It's now a little more than the automotive equivalent of Target.
Part of this discrepancy is due to the price spread of the products each GM brand sells, as GM's poor product planning has undermined Buick's position in the U.S. market. Buick's lineup begins with the $23,800 Buick Envista and ends with the $59,695 Buick Enclave Avenir. In between reside the $26,000 Encore GX and the $36,500 Envision. In 2024, the Envista and Encore GX accounted for nearly 60% of Buick's sales, according to figures from Automotive News. "The bulk of their volume are two vehicles that are basically entry-level models," said Sam Fiorani, Vice President Global Vehicle Forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions. "It's possible that Buick changed its brand image without telling anyone."
Compare that to Cadillac, which starts at a Buick-like base price of $34,995 for a CT4 sedan, climbing to more than $350,000 for the hand-built Cadillac Celestiq EV. "Cadillac really covers a pretty broad range of premium price points. And so you don't really need Buick being at that level, price-wise, and competing with Cadillac," said Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President Market Research at Telemetry.
Buick has other in-house rivals, too. GMC's offerings start at $31,995 with the GMC Terrain and ascend to $107,145 for a GMC Hummer SUV. Chevrolets start at $20,550 for a base Chevrolet Trax, lower than any Buick, but top out at an eye-watering $173,300 on the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. "Chevrolet has some pretty high transaction prices, and it's because they sell so many vehicles that cost more than $50,000," Abuelsamid said.
So, why would Buick concentrate on lower-priced vehicles, rather than market a true premium vehicle lineup? "What they seem to be doing is pricing them relatively close to Chevrolet, but with a little bit more upscale look and feel to it," said Abuelsamid. "I don't think it feels any less premium than it did 10 years ago, but it is strangely much more affordable than what you could get from Buick 10 years ago. I don't think it's a bad strategy. You know, it has certainly stabilized Buick sales in North America."
Indeed. Buick sales have risen more than 43% since hitting a modern-day low of 103,519 units in 2022. When asked about the price vs image issue, Buick wouldn't supply anyone for an interview or answer any questions. Instead, Buick spokeswoman Angelique Williams issued an emailed statement that, "Buick's premium yet affordable portfolio is attracting new and younger customers, with Envista leading the way with 40% of buyers between 36 and 55, nearly 25% between 18 and 35 - and more than 60% were new to the brand in 2024."
While Buick could conceivably move upmarket with their products, they run into Cadillacs that start at the same price as a Buick Envision. Cadillac's price range is no different than rival Mercedes-Benz, yet GM has Buick to feed the lower end of the luxury market, something Mercedes-Benz lacks. Now that Cadillac is heading upmarket with its $350,000-plus Celestiq EV, there's little need for Cadillac to go any further down market than the new $52,895 Cadillac Optiq EV.
Yet in China, Buick's lineup includes the type of high-end vehicles Buick once sold in America. It's flagship vehicle, the Buick GL8 Century, starts at the equivalent of $96,707. And Buick has been selling a line of electric vehicles (EVs), including the Electra E5, since 2023. But any thoughts of it coming to America seem distant due to slackening stateside EV demand and sky-high tariffs on imported goods from China.
While Buick's uptick in U.S. sales is encouraging, it's the Chinese market that has sustained the automaker since re-entering the country in 1997. But that's changing.
"The reason Buick even exists now is because during the during GM's bankruptcy, they were selling 1.2 million units in China, and that's how they convinced the Ratner team to let Buick continue," Abuelsamid said. "Buick sales in China are down to about 300,000 last year, and like most other non-Chinese OEMs, they're continuing to fall."
Even worse, of Buick's current American models, only the Enclave is built in America. The rest are built in Asia. "If Buick continues to decline in China, and tariffs put the kibosh on three of the four models that Buick sells here, then at least in North America, the Buick brand could go away. So it could become a non-issue," Abuelsamid said.
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