All Cars, All the Time

Buick Dealers Want an Encore for the Enclave


Right now Buick has an enviable situation on its hands: buyers are clamouring for the Enclave. The stylish crossover has all the makings of a break out hit for the company. But there is some trouble in Buick-land, there aren't that many Enclaves to be had out there and some dealers are grumping. In the most recent Automotive News, one dealer from Chicago wonders out loud "When will Buick wake up?" There are conspiracy theories that Buick is trying to starve stand alone dealers into the Buick-GMC-Pontiac channel. GM's line is that it has been ramping up production, but it doesn't want to overproduce and therefore reduce profits and resale values. I'm sure they'd love to have the MINI situation where the constrained supply has protected sticker prices and resale values since hitting our shores.

While this protected strategy may be best in the long run, I'm sure it is very difficult dealers who have dealt with lackluster sales for years. Finally a product that hits the market at the right time and happens to be a looker to boot and they can't keep them in stock. Some folks might liken this strategy to "prevent defense" in football where Buick is protecting long term sales at the expense of short term volume. Will it prevent Buick from winning?

My take? Buick doesn't have the luxury of being exclusive just quite yet. Cutting back on fleet sales is like picking the low hanging fruit but constricting the stream of vehicles for retail sales at full MSRP is another. It needs to mend its dealer network and get them in fighting shape to take on CSI champs Lexus. Buick dealers have to have cash to improve facilities and that comes with sales. Certainly the channel strategy where each brand doesn't overlap the other will lead to a more robust showroom and encouraging dealers to channelize isn't a bad thing, but the right motivations need to be put into place. Starving dealers of product to weaken them and then whacking them at the knees with a cheap buyout isn't the way to go--not that GM is necessarily doing that, but some dealers feel that this is the case. Going forward if Buick can bring back the Park Avenue in the 40-50k range and a stylish coupe as a halo vehicle then certainly the brand holds promise. There's a lot of "old fogey" in the Buick brand, but with an onslaught of fresh product and capable, healthy dealers perceptions can be changed.