Is a sedan revival finally happening? Quite possibly. After the big three discontinued most of their sedans over the past decade in favor of high-margin crossovers, it feels like the pendulum’s starting to swing back. Hyundai and Toyota are reaping the benefits of still selling sedans, Ford has talked about reviving passenger cars beyond the Mustang, and now there’s a new source of hope: Automotive News reports that GM is working on a new Buick sedan expected to share genes with the next Cadillac CT5.
The Buick sedan is expected to be built alongside the next-generation CT5 and Camaro at GM’s Lansing Grand River assembly plant in Michigan, the supplier source said. Workers at the factory build the Cadillac CT4 and CT5 and assembled the most recent Camaro model until production stopped with the 2024 model year. CT4 output is expected to end in June.
One of the interesting parts here is “supplier source,” a subject on which Automotive News expands upon:
GM has started requesting quotes for key parts and components from key suppliers for the Buick sedan, the source said. Details about the new Buick sedan, including when production will start, potential price and styling elements, were not known.
Usually, sending out requests for quotes means things are getting serious. If GM’s at that stage, it wouldn’t be surprising if prototypes are already running around the Milford Proving Grounds, or if a design freeze is already in place. While this might seem like breakneck pace, the expected base of this future Buick sedan gives this timeline a level of credence.
We’ve known that Cadillac has been working on a next-generation CT5 for a while, and it wouldn’t be surprising if that stays on the tried-and-true Alpha platform. The Lansing Grand River plant is already tooled up for it, but GM needs volume to fill that facility. A CT5 alone won’t do it, and even the addition of a next-generation Camaro will likely leave room in the plant with the impending demise of the CT4 sedan. A Buick, though? That makes a lot of sense. Not only would it allow GM to fill the plant and spread out development costs, the brand profile is different enough to run a low risk of cannibalizing sales of other models. However, the concept of selling a mid-priced sports sedan to the same crowd now used to sub-$30,000 Envistas and Encore GXs seems tough to wrap your head around. That is unless Buick cashes in on recent cultural relevance.
Roughly 16 months ago, critically acclaimed artist Kendrick Lamar dropped his sixth studio album, and it was named after the baddest Buick of all. “GNX” almost immediately shot to number one in 15 countries, picked up a Grammy and a BET award, and placed Buick’s last muscle car front and center on the album cover. The Buick GNX itself broke all the rules, using a heavily turbocharged V6 to become the quickest American production car of 1987, and that’s just part of the reason why it never stopped being cool. The perfect time to launch a new GNX would’ve been roughly two years ago, but there’s still no reason for Buick not to go for it.
After all, the Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing already features a 3.6-liter twin-turbocharged V6 pumping out 472 horsepower and 445 lb.-ft. of torque. Mated to either a Tremec TR-6060 six-speed manual or a GM 10L90 ten-speed automatic, it’s an engineered system already packaged for the Alpha platform. It would also fulfil the key heritage requirement of boost, even if it isn’t the most potent engine in GM’s catalog. At the same time, going with a boosted V6 would add separation from any future high-performance V8-powered Cadillac model.
So what might a new Buick sedan look like? It’s hard to say. Although our resident rogue designer The Bishop had a crack at it using the Electra concept as a base, this was a case of imagining what a reborn GNX would look like as a dual-motor EV. Regardless, there’s appetite for a proper high-output Buick bruiser, but there’s one main condition.
If Buick wants to crack this segment, it needs to build something cool. Something with gravitas, a bit of menace, and enough presence to be a serious image-maker. A reborn GNX or even a new Grand National has the potential to bring a level of want-one to the Buick lineup it hasn’t offered in decades. Come on, GM. Let’s see it happen.
Top graphic image: pgLang/Kendrick Lamar/YouTube
I’ve been saying this for years. Buick can always just use the Grand National as a sub-brand for performance sedans. It even already has its own logo! I’m optimistic about this, this has a lot of potential
A GNX would be the perfect place for a great little turbo v6 that everyone seems to mostly complain about just because it’s not a v8.
This is exciting news. In the past year I’ve noticed more cars on the road. If they build a new Camaro please give it some decently sized windows.
Literally, one of the few but glaring flaws of the 6th gen. GM fumbled the design of the 6th gen so hard in the usability aspect and making it look different from the gen 5
I like this idea.
Ever since GM’s Sloanian model collapsed upon itself in the 80s, the mid-market brands (Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and later Saturn) have struggled to justify themselves. GMC sidesteps that because of what it is, and Saab was its own (very unsuccessful) thing, but that’s the reality for the other midmarket brands, which lately is just Buick.
And Cadillac has also struggled with identity. What it’s meant is that there’s been a natural price cap on what GM can charge for its mid-market-brand cars, even when they aren’t necessarily direct counterparts to the Cadillac. The XT6, when it existed, was a bit smaller than the Enclave (and the Traverse), but it was still perceived as a more premium and desirable product. And the same is true of its replacement, the Vistiq. Even (especially) if the Vistiq were ICE-powered, no one would want to pay the same for the Enclave as they would for a Vistiq. The Enclave doesn’t offer anything special that would make it worth that kind of money.
The idea of Buick trying to capitalize upon a flash-in-the-pan moment of genuine sporting performance and youthfulness that happened almost forty years ago seems absurd…but a revived GNX is exactly the kind of vehicle that could rise above the dullness of Buick’s current lineup and command Cadillac prices. What’s more, it could probably do that without disrupting Cadillac.
In other words, GM would create a new customer base rather than cannibalizing an existing one.
And sooner is better than later. It helps that the GNX was mentioned in the Kendrick Lamar song. It was always a car that enthusiasts were aware of, but that song brought it to the cultural forefront and genuinely had people saying “That’s a Buick?” in a way they probably never had before. You can’t buy publicity like that. And GM even featured the song in an ad not long after that (although they mistakenly chose to pair it with a red Envista ST).
The car itself could use the basic Alpha RWD structure, but adopt a longer wheelbase and a more relaxed American Muscle Car persona, as a counterpart to the Cadillac Blackwing cars’ European-esque edginess. It could even be a variant of the shelved Omega platform that was used on the CT6, which appears to have a lot of Alpha in it anyway. But it needs to not be a crossover, not be an EV, have handsome styling, and have good engines.
It would be similar to the void left by the departed Chrysler 300, but much more modern and probably have a more discerning (and higher-income) customer base.
Chrysler dropped the 300 with no replacement, that segment of the market is now wide open for Buick to take.
FCA/Stellantis might have let it wither on the vine, but it was a really hot car when it debuted (checks calendar) over 20 years ago now, and was still selling pretty well up to around 2017/2018, when sales started really tapering off right when it would have normally been due for a 3rd generation redesign that it never got. If GM makes a real statement car, something really iconic, at a decent price, they could have the same impact that one did when it first came out.
Just make sure to do more than 2 generations in 19 years, and maybe make the second generation more visually distinct from the first so people know its new and feel like they have a reason to trade-in
It could also compel Chrysler to field a replacement 300. It’s not like the Hurricane or the current STLA Large platform are anything to sneeze at, in and of themselves.
And based on sales of the Charger, they could probably really use any sort of volume boost that another model could provide
If they call it the Riviera and make it look good, they won’t be able to make them fast enough. Keep GS and GNX as high performance trim names
Man, Buick and Cadillac have so many great names that GM refuses to use -Riviera, Roadmaster, Electra, Wildcat, Eldorado, Fleetwood- maybe it is high time to dust one off
“Regal” just doesn’t seem to fit with a RWD Alpha chassis car you know?
They’ll probably call it the Envelete or Envir or something
Oh lord, that’s exactly what’s going to happen
“ or Envir”
And they can make a electric version of the Envir… and call that trim level the ‘Onment’… Which gives you the Envir Onment.
In my view, the original RWD Regal Grand National was on the RWD G-Body… which was originally called the A-Body until GM decided to use the A-Body designation for a FWD platform based on the poor-reputation-X-Body platform.
So A-Body Regal vs Alpha-platform Regal… sounds like it would fit to me!
I get it, but we had 32 years of “Regal” being FWD based Camry fighter. They gotta switch up the name if they want to start something different
32 years ago, we had “14 years of Regal being RWD”.
They were able to switch back then. They should be able to switch back now.
Well, they also had the help of a really on-the-ball ad team, I mean, “the Great American Road is Yours in Regal” was shoulders above the “That’s a Buick?!?!” thing they’ve got now
It’s really telling how bad those commercials were when they were phased out 6 years ago but that’s the last thing anyone remembers about Buick lmao
Wow, what are they doing now? Are they doing anything? Does Chevy still have that Real People thing?
Buick: Exceptional By Design I had to look it up even though I just left Buick in January lol
Agree to disagree. I think the last Regal went out with too much of a whimper to put it on a new sport sedan. They didn’t even clear 30k cars sold of the last generation which was spread over 4 years. I think Grand National is great for the Hi-Po trim though
All I ever wanted was a black Grand National!
F bein’ rational, give ’em what they asked for!
A black Grand National would be great. But one in Blood Red would be great too!
https://www.hydrostyleuk.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/BloodRedCandy.jpg
Something tells me if GM decides to do a Buick sedan again there would be a base 4 cyl turbo to keep the MSRP down. As long as there is a spiced up version with the TT V6 from the CT5-V I think this could become kind of popular.
I always thought the big mistake with the ATS V and CT4V Blackwing was the TTV6. That engine should have been Buick motor from the start. A Buick-afied Camaro or ATS/CT4 would have been sick. Cadillac should have then just stuck with a LS3 and LT4 in their small performance sedan. All would have been right in the world. And best of all? It would have allowed them to slice up a shrinking market into infinitesimally smaller subsegments while also leading to decent product overlap and cannibalization. But at least it would have been more true to the lineage and that is all that matters. Right?
But for real, I feel like there is a decent market for an actual small, comfortable, powerful cars and SUVs that aren’t all about track times and the non-existant sidewalls, overly stiff suspension, and over-bolstered seats that come shaving tenths. Buick could be that.
Not holding my breath waiting for Buick to introduce an actual new car for sale.
Only an executive would think you can cut an entire product segment and think people will just decide to buy your other offerings.
true, just look at Lincoln. They cut the MKZ and Continental in favor of an SUV-only lineup. And they just let the Corsair go, so their lineup is just a whopping 3 vehicles now and all starting north of $50K.
I didn’t realize the Corsair had been discontinued, but I’m not surprised.
And yet 2025 was Lincoln’s best year since 2019, and sales are about the same as they were when they still had the sedans in the lineup, you have to go back to pre-Great Recession to where they were significantly better
2025 was a good sales year for Lincoln, but there is no way they can achieve the same numbers (let alone outperform) this year without the Corsair or something else as an entry level vehicle.
My point being, they are not fully committing to their all SUV strategy when they’re killing off their 2nd best selling vehicle this year.
That is true, it is more of a Stellantis-style move, isn’t it
They are also still keeping the Z around in China
I was sad when they cut the Continental. It felt like Lincoln was FINALLY starting to get some swagger in the lineup, a little return to dignity.
When everybody has an SUV, they’re not special like maybe they once were. Also, when you drive a luxury sedan, you tell the world that you don’t need to haul crap, you have people for that. Luxury sedan means that you are the most important thing in the car; you don’t go to Ikea to bring crap home, you aren’t hauling wet dogs or the hockey team.
The most important thing in the car is the driver and/or the passengers.
I would love to see, though I don’t think the volume is there to justify it, a new Camaro sold as a fastback, and a new Buick GNX sold as a notchback, like the 80s body.
Sell a buick sedan and use that same design language, but toughened up, for the GNX. I’m totally on board with a powerhouse sedan as well though
Camaro gets standard v6 and then v8 options.
GNX gets standard v6, then powerhouse v6 turbo options.
Avoids overlap in the performance versions at least.
I can’t express how much I hate that stupid George Thorogood song defined advertising through the
80s, 90’s…crap today?one bourbon one scotch and one beer?
I mean good for him, I’m sure George loves going to the mailbox to get the residuals, but every other song by him is better. And that’s a low bar
I’m not keeping my fingers crossed, but the tools are all there to make an SS replacement that isn’t six figures. I’ll take a look at any high-ish powered sedan they put out on the alpha platform, but my wish list in order of importance to me. Four-Doors, Rwd/(or Rwd bias), 500ish HP, NA V8 (TTV6 would be next best), MT. I’d be willing to compromise on some of that, but no room for kids would be a dealbreaker. I’m not sold on Mopar and anything else is too expensive.
I wonder if the Chevy SS trading used for basically new MSRP finally got to GM. I’d be surprised if a wagon appeared, but GM has to be aware that their own CTS-V wagon has a cult following, and that the likes of Audi and BMW have made the jump over the pond.
I am extremely excited for this family of sedans, especially if they get the packaging right (as Nsane pointed out).
I hope there’s some sort of spiritual SS successor out of this. I’m not holding my breath but my SS has 10+ years and 100k+ miles under its belt and the right car for the right price would have my money in the first model year or two. My preference would be a 4-door camaro with a NA V8, but a GNX with a TTV6 would be a fine consolation prize.
I hope so, too, but there’s no way they’re putting a manual back in a Buick, right? We’ll see.
Probably not in the Buick, and maybe not in anything, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Looking at prices, I could get back what I gave for mine, 5.5 years and 40k miles later.
If they do it it will put the get into the Buick commercials in a new light. Hard for me to put my head around Buick not being basically a import brand they have one badge engineered suv that’s built in the us now. They gave found a younger demo with their chinese cars. So would be amusing to lean into and the established design language. Make the thing as Chinese looking as you can to separate it from the other two.
I love reading these articles and seeing what they do/do not get right.
Chevy Camaro: Automatics and Manuals on every model
Buick Regal: Automatics only
Cadillac CT5: Automatics on every model but with an optional Manual on the Blackwing
I wonder if the Buick and the Camaro will share drivetrain options but the Buick will just be the sedan version of the Camaro.
If GM is sending quotes only, that means they havent build anything yet. They probably have a design in place and what engines they are going to run but usually quotes doesnt get build, that means they are just finding the right suppliers to setup contracts, etc. But they have a very aggresive timeline if they are just starting with quotes and they plan to launch next year.
My guess the Alpha platform will not have a lot of changes and its just a small update, use a bunch of shared parts/engines currently under the same platform and launch quickly with a bunch of the same suppliers they are currently using to speed up things.
You read my post on some other site that rhymes with Nalopjick
I read this news yesterday and am very intrigued. Some places are reporting that there is a new alpha platform in the works and that it’s expected to underpin a new Camaro, new Cadillac sedans, and a new Buick sedan. The existing alpha platform is already amazing, so GM really doesn’t have to do a whole lot to make a new one excellent.
The real issue with the cars on the current platform is the packaging sucks outside of the CT5. The 6th gen Camaro is one of the best drivers cars of the 21st century but it’s the length of a 4Runner, you can’t see out of it, the trunk opening is minuscule, the doors are massive, and the backseats are useless.
It wasn’t a sales failure because it wasn’t a good car, it was a sales failure because it’s a terrible package. You can similarly of the CT4. Like the Camaro it’s not a small car, but it is a small interior. The backseat space is among the worst in its class. If it was competing against the A3, 2 series, etc. it wouldn’t be a big deal…but it isn’t. It’s competing against cars that can handle family duty and fit multiple adults in the back without issue.
If GM can solve those issues, and they don’t seem all that daunting to me since they’re mainly sheet metal related, the platform may finally live up to its full potential. Which brings me back to the topic at hand: the GNX 2.
Thomas is right. If there’s ever been a time for it it’s the present. The Grand National and GNX have seen a cultural resurgence that’s pretty unusual…and this is happening at a time when GM is putting a lot into revitalizing the Buick brand and, somehow, doing a pretty damn good job of it. There’s also a market position for what would essentially a lower trim of the CT4V BW.
The Charger Sixpack exists, rumors of a Mustang sedan have been floating around for years, and there are many people (I am one of those people!) who desperately wanted to make a Camaro or Blackwing work but just couldn’t because of the compromises. If Buick were to make a badass performance sedan on the alpha platform and keep the price under $60,000 I’d buy one.
And again, Thomas is right! The engine is right there! The Grand National never ever came with a V8 so there isn’t as much pressure from the durrrr muh V8 crowd. They already have a psychotic boosted V6 and I think they can probably get it to meet European regulations without much work. They do sell the CT4V BW over there after all.
But anyway, it all makes perfect sense, which is why I don’t want to get my hopes up because GM does stupid shit all the time. But if they make a sedan that’s a spiritual Grand National successor with enough room to handle car seats? I’d put down a deposit tomorrow. I don’t even care about anything else. Give it a cloth interior and only sell it in black.
Now that the Corvette is fully committed to the Rear-Mid layout they should just make the rear seats in the Camaro a parcel shelf, I mean it’s not like the Camaro (nor Mustang) has ever had back seats that adults could sit in, they’ve always been 2+2’s. If they grow the Camaro to have a useful back seat, I’ll just keep my 6th gen
I don’t think they’d have any reason to do that. I assume they’re making the Buick for the people who want a decent back seat and the Camaro is a labor of love to keep an iconic name alive. I can’t see them doing anything to risk the Camaro’s brand equity at this point…although I would imagine they’ll make it a bit easier to see out of.
Easier to see out of and with a liftback hatch a la the F bodies. Cater to Gen X and older millennials like the 2009 catered to the boomers.
If they can keep the new GNX with a twin-turbo’d V6 under $50,000 they might just have a winner on their hands.
This is some of the most exciting news out of GM since they announced that their logo was going to be lower case
If it looks good, and can be priced roughly comparable to the Integra, I could honestly see taking a look at the new Buick sedan in a couple of years
GM last offered a sedan for the North American market in 2019. Which means the vast majority of Buick sedan customers have likely already replaced their Buicks with a sedan offered by another manufacturer. While I look forward to buying a new Buick sedan once my Lacrosse wears itself out, I’m fairly certain the Buick sedan buying customer has either died or moved on to other manufacturers.
For GM as a whole, the Malibu made it to 2025, the Impala to 2020, and Cadillac still sells the CT4
The customers who listen to Kendrick Lamar are not traditional Buick customers.
I’d sign up in a heartbeat – I’m not big on a V6TT in a Cadillac but it’s literally the GNX’s heritage. I’d take a coupe or a sedan, though I would like the six-speed.
Just throw a 2.0T into an Envista, a good size engine in the lightest car they have and call it good. Lower it enough to fully embrace its hatchbackness and offer it in real colors (all black had impact in the 80s but is tired now). Have a Chevy Trax Z24 variant ready to go after one year as Buick exclusive.
I really like the Envista. I said before they should have come out with a GS/GNX package or something for it, even if it was mostly cosmetic. I think it could have had appeal and priced right for the market.
The enthusiast and 80s kid in me is excited. Older, less-optimistic me recognizes that Buick will sell exactly twelve of these and pull the plug after a couple of years.
The reason why the GN and GNX existed was because they were parts-bin halo cars based off of a volume-seller. Without that volume to support them they will die on the vine, and I don’t see a scenario where Buick offers a front engine/rear drive base 4cylinder Regal sedan for $30k.
Unless they do a major overhaul of the Alpha platform, its development costs have already been more than paid for. The engines would also be sourced from other models. Now spread any new costs across three brands. I’m optimistic.
Because it will get zero marketing support, you won’t see a single ad on social media or TV. Nobody aside from enthusiasts will know it exists, and they will go elsewhere because dealers will only order a handful of the highest-trim examples for inventory and slap $10,000 markups on them. Then everyone at GM will stand around shrugging wondering what went wrong
I hope Buick codenamed the project, “April”.
I understood that reference!
The Greatest Automotive Channel on all of YouTube!
Did I say it right?
Something like that.