Buick's three car/three truck product strategy for the immediate future is down to three and two.
The un-named compact Crossover which was also planned to be the first plug-in hybrid in its class has been axed from the product plan.
As we related here and in Wheels two weeks ago, General Motors recently revealed a lot of their future plans both to the media (which is normal) and to prospective customers (which is not).
Apparently it was the tepid customer reaction to the vehicle that caused GM's vice-chair for product development Tom Stephens to (you really MUST pardon the expression) pull the plug.
It would have been based on a stretched-wheelbase version of the platform of the new Chevrolet Equinox/GMC Terrain. But feedback indicated customers didn't think it looked or felt 'premium' enough to bear the Buick badge.
Odd, because as a Chevrolet, it looks and feels very premium indeed, with high-class materials, good fits and finishes, and lots of upscale features.
But hey, the customer is always right even when he's wrong.
This is perhaps the biggest lesson the new GM has to learn. This quick cut-and-run (Stephens acknowledged that a decision like this would have taken months under the old regime) suggests they have indeed learned it.
The plug-in hybrid capability is scheduled for other vehicles, whose development apparently is not affected by the decision to chop the small Buick truck.
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