It takes a good deal of confidence to remove your own name from the back of every vehicle you build. But that's what Buick is doing, and it's got some good reasoning for making the change.
Starting with the 2019 model year, Buick will remove the "Buick" script badge from the back of its vehicles, a move originally discovered by GM Authority. The change started with the 2019 Buick Envision, which received a mid-cycle refresh full of small quality-of-life adjustments, in addition to a lower starting price. As the 2019 model year consumes more Buicks, expect more badges to disappear.
While Buick's reasons for ditching the badge are good, saving money never hurts, either, even if it's only a few cents per car.
BuickA cynic might just cast off this decision as a way to save a few bucks on each car, but the reasoning goes a bit deeper. "Mostly, it was for global consistency because we don't put the name badge on [Buicks] in China," said Stu Fowle, a Buick spokesman. "It also makes room if we decide to add an Avenir badge on the rear."
Avenir is Buick's new high-end trim level that will act as Denali does for GMC, encompassing the best interior appointments the automaker has to offer. I took a spin in a 2018 Buick Enclave Avenir last year, and I was pretty impressed with both the interior's look and feel, especially the seat leather.
Fowle also said that research indicated Buick's "shield" badge is identifiable enough to stand alone, but I wasn't privy to any hard data from said research, so I can't speak to it. If that's the case, Buick may need to change its advertising tagline from "That's a Buick?" to "Of course that's a Buick!" (I'll give you that one for free, GM.)
It's a bold move, Cotton, but Buick believes it'll pay off. At the least, having that room for an Avenir badge seems like a good way to get more folks interested in the fledgling high-end trim.
