GM's brand makeover

2008 Buick Enclave

A lot of drivers might have been surprised to hear that Buick is one of GM's core brands. After all, its U.S. market share is about half that of Pontiac's, which is being relegated to "niche" status. But Buick sells just three models.

GM has good reason to invest lots of money in Buick, because the brand is enormously successful in China, a large and growing new market for cars.

In fact, the Chinese market will largely drive the Buick brand. There will still be plenty of stateside input into the design of the cars, GM says, but the emphasis will be where most of the buyers are, and that's in Asia.

GM isn't saying this, but it would make a lot of sense in the future to not just design Buicks in China but to import them from there too, said J.D. Power analyst Tom Libby.

While there may be sound business reasons to invest in Buick, Libby said, GM still needs to sell the brand to Americans and give them a clearer sense of what this brand means.

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