Quick, picture a current Buick in your head. If you’re having difficulty, there’s probably a reason for that. See, while the brand known as the doctor’s car used to make some beautiful stuff, it’s been on a weird trajectory ever since the malaise era kicked off. Don’t get me wrong, it does make some good cars, but it’s been years since we saw a Buick with an instant reaction of want-one, concept or production. Maybe it’s time to go back, yet not too heavily. The Buick Electra Orbit may be a brand-new concept car, but its heart seems set in the space age. The result feels like the most interesting thing we’ve seen from Buick in ages
However, don’t think that this show floor creation is American. Buick is a big deal in China, and this concept actually hails from the GM China Advanced Design Studio. Ideation, creation, iteration, it almost took place in Shanghai, but the outside help came from an unexpected place. While this creation comes from China, GM Korea aided in artistic visualization. The result feels like the most interesting show car we’ve seen from GM in ages.
Let’s start with the silhouette, a long teardropped two-box with serious pinch at either end. The resulting arcs complement the long wheelbase beautifully, with prominent horizontal motifs leaning into the old mantra of “longer, lower, wider”. With the roofline swooping low into a distinctive boat tail, the designers of the Electra Orbit have used a low-profile wing to break up the deck lid, an element that also drives your eye toward the bulging wheel arches. The result is bewitching from some angles and gawky from others, sort of like a Citroën SM except less classically cool. Even other recent teardrops like the Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX look nowhere near this dramatic.
Up front, an incredibly low hoodline blends into a fascia sporting six sci-fi slim lighting elements. A pair of air intakes sit below a character line that runs the entire circumference of the car, and the most prominent single piece up front is actually an old-school piece of trim down the center of the hood. It’s certainly a minimalist look, but one that dabs the retro on with an eyedropper instead of smearing it on with a trowel. A piece of trim here, a sloping line there, and boom.
Speaking of details, the Electra Orbit has some delightful ones. Polished 24-inch dinner plate wheels aren’t just bold visual statements; they should be half-decent for aero, and this sedan sports four scissor doors because why not? This is a concept car, and front-and-rear scissor doors were awesome on the Lamborghini Portofino concept, so now’s a good time to bring back an old cue.
Much like the exterior styling, the cabin of the Electra Orbit is also pure concept car fantasy, except it goes even harder. How about a holographic orb floating above the dashboard? The dashboard trim is a screen, the two-spoke steering wheel has the silhouette of an overweight cartoon pig, and is that a crystal ball in the console? Oh, and we haven’t even talked about the wildest element, a rose-tinted piece of transparent material forming an arc between the rear seat passengers like an elaborate metaphor for nostalgia itself.
Add it all up, and the Buick Electra Orbit pays homage to the past, but wow, does it ever have a foot in the future. It’s the nearly I’m-not-ready-for-this future most statement designs expect to make, but without being aggressively leering. Considering Buick has generally struggled to establish a distinct visual identity over the past few decades, this bold risk might be the sort of thing the brand needs. I mean, the Camaro-based Avista concept of 2016 made waves, but can you remember off the top of your head what it looked like? Probably not.
So, can we expect future electric Buicks to look a bit like this? It’s tough to say. On the one hand, Buick is in the midst of a model cycle with its current styling language, and I can’t imagine this look translating well to the form of a crossover utility vehicle. On the other, maybe it’s something worth trying. Buick has been making some neat stuff in China, but nothing this distinctive, this opulent, this dramatic.
Top graphic image: GM
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GM has, for many decades, made some amazing, unobtanium concepts and then gone on and produced none of them.
I almost feel like GM could use a new halo brand. Higher than Cadillac. Build these ridiculous cars and sell them for whatever it costs.
Are you sure that’s not a cockroach?
Looks like it could just bolt right on top of the Cadillac Celestiq chassis.
This is lovely, and I don’t expect to ever see it on the road.
I found myself realizing lately that Buick has some pretty nice styling. A coworker has an Encore, and I think it’s a neat little car, and I like the looks okay. The fact that it’s the exact color of Boston Baked Beans doesn’t hurt.
Roll that beautiful bean Buick.
By far the most radical design element for the current age is an integrated screen rather than a glued on tablet. Just wild stuff
The departure angle with that big rear end wouldn’t be good. We’ll never see it here in North America anyway so it doesn’t matter…
Gorgeous concept.
But truthfully, they’ve had gorgeous concepts in the past, but haven’t actually produced any of those vehicles. This is another great design, but if they don’t put it into production, it’s not going to improve Buick’s image.
My hope is now that Cadillac, Chevy and GMC have strong images with good sales, GM can invest into updating Buick’s image with a fresh lineup. GM has done a great job in the last 5 years with differentiating their vehicles so now giving Buick some love makes a lot of sense. Personally with Cadillac knocking it out of the park with EVs, I actually think Buick should focus on hybrids to help differentiate the brand.
Yeah, a good looking Buick concept isnt that unusual, see the 2007 and 2013 Rivieras, the achievement will be in actually building one
First thing I thought of was the Enxxxxx SUVs that look great and are less than 25k. They deliver on the promise of the original Ford Maverick- a penalty box free vehicle that actually looks kinda cool. I think Buick is on its way up.
Really resembles Herrera Outlaw from Cyberpunk 2077 to me, even the interior. This is not a bad thing.
In the world where the CyberTruck is a real thing that you can buy, and the Chinese and Koreans are taking an unconstrained view on EV design I think GM needs to get after it and bring something as close as possible to this to production.
There is appetite for bold, and this is a very real opportunity for Buick to reset expectations for what the brand represents.
I’m enjoying this, but if we’re going to do the ghost of future past nostalgia, I want some glowing blue ventiports.
Those cowards at corporate don’t have the cajones to actually put something like this on the market. Mary Barra and Mark Reuss better come to their senses and put this thing on the interstates here in cowboy-land.
That exterior is gorgeous. Too bad it’s got a snowball’s chance in heck of ever making it to production.
Production? It hasn’t even made it past pixels yet. It’s a concept of a concept.
I actually am pretty impressed with how the Envista looks in person. Yeah it’s a whatever car based SUV and I’m perhaps jaded by how awful and dumpy the Encore it replaced looked; but it is a slick looking little thing and not at all I would expect from Buick.
In comparison, it doesn’t matter who this one is from because to a large extent all of these swoopy land speed record looking things blend together.
It’s a better Jaguar prototype than the actual new jaguar prototype.
Why is every concept rendering without a B pillar and with a yoke or yoke-like steering wheel?
Oh god, they’ve moved past the squircle and gone straight for the squoval.
Squiangle is coming next.
Looks like an evolution of the Wildcat concept from just a few years ago…
Give it Corvette C2 taillights and split rear window, with flip-open headlights that mimic the C2’s popups except they stay in place switching between an opaque panel when off and a clear lexan screen when on to allow the lights to be seen(so that aero isn’t disturbed), and this thing would be even more beautiful, and possibly marketable, as an ultra-aerodynamic design.
This from GM, who loves to blue-ball us all with gorgeous, interesting concepts and then not build them. I don’t see anything here that remotely translates to a production car, especially not when (as you said) Buick is firmly in crossover territory these days, and especially not at Buick’s price points.
To the extent that they built a single concept at all and that this isn’t just an Autodesk 3DS Max rendering…this will wind up at the Petersen or somewhere else in the next twenty years, and we’ll all go, “Oh yeah, I remember that one!” and then move on. It’ll be another piece of concept car detritus from an era gone by.
Yeah, like that V-12 Chrysler concept from 20 years ago.
I wonder if this is the Buick that Bill Murray was talking about on Rogan?
Renault at the front. Tatra at the back.
The headlights make me think Cutlass Supreme.