Buick

David Buick founded the Buick Company in 1902, and in 1904 it was taken over – he was bought off and died two decades latter, none the richer for his effort. His main claim to fame is, however, that he developed a new kind of engine head called the “Overhead Valved” engine. What made this such a revolutionary invention was that is placed the camshaft inside the cylinder block, and then used rods above the head to engage the valves. These engines are smaller, less complex, and reduce service time in the event of a breakdown – however there is a limitation on the rpm it can produce and the design flexibility in the cylinder head. However, Buick’s little company lived on and soon became the biggest manufacturer of vehicles in America; having succeeded in all of these elements the mastermind William C Durant called his new conglomeration of companies “General Motors”. Buick was marketed and produced in the beginning of this conglomeration as the high entry level luxury vehicle that only Cadillac could beat (as Cadillac was meant as the higher up name and vehicles).

Currently Buick is one of the oldest names in the world for cars, but its close cousin and fellow GM brand Oldsmobile has been cut and killed – and many fear the same fate lies in store for Buick in order to cut costs… besides that though the Buick has been the second class luxury vehicle (second to the number one Luxury brand Cadillac) produced by GM for the richer but not opulent price range of buyer. They began consolidations in 05 of their lines a full century after Buick was founded, killing off the Regal and Century, and then replacing those two with the LaCrosse. Then they killed off the Park Avenue and slapped on the Lucerne last year – and further cut more vehicles this year with the discontinuations of their two SUV lines – Rainier and Rendezvous so that next year they could bring about their newest line for SUVs called the Enclave.