Supercar

February 21, 2025Newsletter Archives

Let’s talk Buicks. America’s longest continuously operated automotive brand, Buick was founded in 1899 by the early automotive builder David Dunbar Buick. By 1908, the year General Motors acquired the company, Buick had declared itself to be the largest car manufacturer in the world. 

We can’t make that claim now, but over the last two years the Buick business has been humming. Buick grew sales 10% in 2024, following a 61% jump in 2023. The Envista, a crossover launched with the 2024 model year, has been gaining traction, with sales up 57% in the fourth quarter. Buick has posted 8 consecutive quarters of growth, and we are expanding our customer base, with 72% of 2024 buyers new to the brand. As the old advertising slogan went, “Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?” 

Over the course of its storied history, Buick has built some iconic automobiles. The 1938 Buick Y-Job was the first-ever General Motors concept car, featuring advanced design ideas like power windows, concealed headlights and flush door handles. Humphrey Bogart drove a 1940 Buick Phaeton in the 1943 film “Casablanca” – the car was sold at auction in 2013 for $461,000. But right now, the Buick getting the most buzz is the GNX, which literally took center stage at the half time show on Super Sunday. 

Sold in 1987, the GNX had a short run – we only made 547 of them. The GNX was a revved-up Buick Grand National, itself a performance edition of the mid-sized Buick Regal. The GNX - the acronym stands for Grand National Experimental - turned the already sporty Grand National into a studly supercar, adding a Garrett AiResearch T-3 turbocharger, dual mufflers, a Turbo-Hydromatic 200-4R transmission and various other tweaks and upgrades. 

GM President Mark Reuss worked on the GNX in the early part of his career, and he still gets jazzed talking about it. 

“When you drive one, even now, it’s frighteningly fast from 0-60,” Reuss says. “But it isn’t bad at all, ride and handling-wise – it still rides like a Buick. You can drive it all day on the highway. It’s very nice to drive… all the comforts, like air conditioning, T-tops, concert sound, power seats, power antenna if you remember those… it was a fully loaded Buick. But brutal. In the best way.”

– Eric J. Savitz, editor-in-chief, GM News