Buick is rarely the logo in the U. S. market right now, with models like the Encore crossover lacking the exclusive features and driving dynamics to compete with the segment’s most productive. The logo has also failed to attract younger buyers to your home. As a 2018 study through CarMax found that Buick had the second oldest average buyer, behind Cadillac. However, despite its poor functionality in the United States, Buick is doing very well in some global markets, with China’s status out as a specific domain of good fortune in recent years.
Formed in 1903, the original Buick Motor Company logo looked nothing like the one that embellishes the front of the brand’s cars today. It was a depiction of Uncle Sam walking on a globe, with the slogan “Known All over the World” written in the middle of the world. A bit ironic, perhaps, given that David Dunbar’s new venture, Buick, is little more than a brave and unknown startup without popularity in his home country, let alone around the world. This first logo did not last long, and in 1905 he replaced it through an undeniable stylized edition of the Buick name.
The first iteration of the Buick Shield badge was introduced in 1937, after it was discovered through a General Motors researcher named Ralph Pew in the mid-1930s. It was inspired by an old crescent of Buick’s circle of relatives originally from Scotland, where the eponym of the company. founder born before moving to the United States at a young age. The shield had been recorded in an electronic book on heraldry published in 1851 and featured a red shield with a silver and blue (or blue, to be more precise) line crossing it diagonally. A golden cross also gave the impression on the shield, which had a recess in the center, with the red of the visual shield through. Pew took the design and added its own touch, eventually creating the logo of Buick’s initial corporate shield.
The design of the shield was changed several times over the following decades, it was reduced in 1939 to have greater compatibility with the profile of Buick cars at that time. It was enlarged in 1942 and placed on a black circular background when Buick temporarily switched to the production army. In 1947, when normal production resumed, the logo reappeared without precedent and continued to be used until the late ’50s, when GM designers recommended a major change.
Unveiled in time for the start of the new decade, the Buick logo was first redesigned with 3 patches instead of one. This 3-shield design represented the 3 styles in the Buick line: red for LeSabre, silver for the Invicta and blue for Electra. This brand proved to be very popular and continued into the 60s and 70s, even after the Buick style line expanded.
In what would prove to be the last departure from the three-shield design, GM designers brought the Buick Hawk concept in 1975, complete with a falcon logo. The falcon proved so popular that the design expanded to the rest of Buick’s line. the following year, and a red-tailed hawk named “Happy” even appeared in ads over the following years to bolster the new brand. However, this only succeeded so much: in the mid-1980s, Happy the Hawk finally took precedence over the classic three-shield logo.
During this time, Buick was making remarkably futuristic cars, but executives thought emphasizing the brand’s legacy was the most productive way to maximize sales. to officially remove the falcon logo. Happy was removed with Skyhawk himself, and Buick returned to the triple shield as the sole logo the following year.
After the official reintroduction of the tri-shield in 1990, Buick entered an era of relatively strong sales but declining innovation. Models like the Roadmaster and Century were constant cash resources for GM, but they hadn’t been particularly up-to-date in years. and were founded on obsolete platforms. The market was also beginning to pivot to SUVs, and Buick’s classic line of heavy sedans didn’t have an iconic style that appropriated this emerging segment.
The lack of tweaks to the logo between 1990 and the mid-2010s likely reflects GM’s attitude toward Buick overall in this consistent way. The old motto of “If it’s not damaged, don’t fix it” comes to mind, but in retrospect, it’s It turns out GM has lost its sight on Buick’s competitiveness in the U. S. market. U. S. However, during this same constant period, Buick had entered China, opening its first domestic plant in Shanghai in 1999. Buick’s Chinese belief was one of prestige and luxury, and GM took all the credit for that. Buick’s sales in China accelerated rapidly, and in 2013, the logo was a key element in making China GM’s largest market.
With Buick’s sales consistently strong in China and languishing in the U. S. , GM’s biggest fear of the logo had become horny for Chinese consumers. A new, simpler design saw the so-called “Buick” removed from the logo and only the triple shield remained. , distilling the logo into an even simpler edition of the 1960 design. Simple, perhaps, to the point of being too anodyne and forgettable. the driving, area and infotainment of the car, but lamenting the car’s lack of a unique selling point.
In an effort to win back Chinese consumers, Buick unveiled its latest logo update at a live-streamed event alongside a new flagship MPV specially designed for the Chinese market. The Electra-X, Buick’s first all-electric SUV concept based on GM’s Ultium. platform, also exhibited on the occasion. The logo promised to introduce a new styling line that includes five new electric cars in China through 2025, and proudly displayed on the front of those electric cars would be the new three-shield logo.
While the new design is a significant replacement for its predecessor, Buick executives claimed that the revamped logo was not planned at all. the new face of Buick” for the era of electric vehicles, left 3 oblique color marks on its comic strip instead of the popular logo. t, and the twist of fate intrigued GM President Mark Reuss.
GM’s Ultium platform, on which the new Electra-X concept is based, would be the basis for an entire fleet of models debuting in the coming years, many of which will be Buicks. The logo says its first all-electric vehicle will be available. in the U. S. It will be in the U. S. until 2024 and each and every car in its North American lineup will be electric until the end of the decade. With the Chinese market’s strong appetite for electric vehicles, Buick is expected to have an EV logo even sooner.
Buick’s Wildcat EV concept was also unveiled in 2022, raising the option that the logo plans to launch a car with electric functionality in the future. It’s again based on the Ultium architecture, potentially making it much more affordable for Buick to expand than a classic ICE sports car. car. It looks like the recent logo replaces only part of GM’s planned reinvention of the Buick logo, but it remains to be seen whether it can capitalize on this wave of interest to regain market share not only in China but also in the United States.