2011 Buick Regal Touts German Engineering In New Commercials

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2011 Buick Regal Touts German Engineering In New Commercials

Jonathan McGrew

3,647 views Jul 30, 2010

2011 Buick Regal

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The 2011 Buick Regal has made some pretty good impressions on American audiences. Maybe that is because this is the first regal that really has fit the current automotive landscape in some time. It is also the first Regal that is “sport injected” and available with a Turbo and Bluetooth connectivity, among other options. You might have seen AllSmallCars.com’s coverage of the 2011 Buick Regal showcase at the 2010 Denver Auto Show; a show where we learned that this new Buick will achieve 20/30 mpg city/hwy. We were impressed and continue to be with the reviews coming from colleges around the automotive industry—and then the commercials started rolling.

Yes, sometimes companies have unique way of turning buyers of with their advertising concepts. Buick may suffer from this not because the car isn’t one of the best Buick vehicles produced under the nameplate in a long time, but because the commercials focus on German engineering. The first commercial (see below) titled “Autobahn” talks about the 2011 Buick Regal being the “first German engineered Buick…” Now this might be a good thing in many people’s minds because the Germans are know to be great engineers, but for an American car company to push the idea that it was engineered in Germany puts some people on edge. The second commercial, titled “Discover Beauty” elicits a comment from a user on YouTube as follows:

German Engineered? American taxpayer owned company is paying German engineers to design cars and bragging about in in their commercials? That's just great!

AllSmallCars.com isn’t taking sides here, but we want to know what you think! Drop us a comment and tell us whether the Opel Insignia derived Buick Regal seems better when the German engineering is added into the commercial or does it reinforce that American car companies still aren’t up to part on engineering on this side of the pond?

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Comments (15)

Marcus Posted: 7/31/2010 12:52am PDT

GM is an international company with a German division (Opel). The German engineering reinforces that excellent tallent and workmanship went into this car. The German engineering is definitely a plus. You would have to live there to appreciate the land of no speed limits and understand their cars are held to a higher standard.

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Quentin Allen Posted: 7/31/2010 5:01am PDT

QAllen post. Unfortunately, German engineering for most people means a better handling more fun to drive car. The American car companies know this and this is why they advertise "German Engineering". Cadillac is much better now because they are "German Engineered". Now, Buicks and Chevrolets will also be better.

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Paul Posted: 8/4/2010 6:34am PDT

American cars have contained foreign parts and assemblies for a long time. They have of course been enfluenced by foreign design and engineering. I am very disappointed though in how we suddenly again, after government take over of GM and Chyrsler, are touting European engineering over American engineering. This surge of anti-American sentiment within our own government is disgusting and is not the way to rebuild our manufacturing companies, like the car manufacturers. We should be encouraging American engineering and design efforts to learn lessons from their counterparts in foreign companies but we should be touting our accomplishments instead. Foreign competition has been good for us and we needed to change. They have done the same as our way of life has enfluenced their cultures. But they are still proud of who they are, and we should be proud of who we are. Our government should be the first in line in that department. Our driving requirements are different here. Europeans are shocked when they come here and see how big this country is. We drive coast to coast. Thousands of miles. They don't drive that way. They have wonderful mass transit. We don't. Driving is different here. So are our cars. So are we. Thanks for listening. Pray for our country.

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John Luma Posted: 8/5/2010 12:14am PDT

What? We Americans can't engineer our own major car brands? The company that once created and "engineered" the greatest lineup of Caddies, Vettes, Rivieras, GTOs -- some of the best affordable quality cars in the history of automobiles -- now has to farm out its mechanics to Germans? What a crock! Put our own brainiacs to work and quit trying to bulls%!#! the public with this sorry attempt at sophistication. "Born in the USA" is back to being on the cutting edge. Tell it like it is and it will sell.

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Tim Posted: 8/16/2010 12:13pm PDT

The technology that they put in the new Buick is designed and developed by German engineers by Opel. Opel is a German company owned by GM. The people that wrote that article look at the whole thing the wrong way. While GM was struggling during the recession, Opel were the only one that didn't. GM receives +10% of Opel's earnings AND their technologies. So it is totally wrong to say that German engineers are paid by the American tax payers. The whole deal with GM is for Opel just a loss. Now they are struggling because GM wants more and more money. Now they are cutting down German jobs... Think about it

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Chris Posted: 8/26/2010 5:45am PDT

Its interesting that they would even advertize that it is German Engineered considering how anyone non-German is still willing to shit on Germans or anything German after more than 65 years. The American auto industry have never been leaders; they are followers. Until you get rid of the cast-in mentality or our auto industry, nothing coming out of our plants will ever change.

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Gerard Posted: 9/4/2010 9:03pm PDT

German engineered (Opel) Buick? Nothing new. Buick sold Opels manufactured by Isuzu 1976-1979.
And lets not forget the Opel manufactured by Daewoo and sold by Pontiac as the LeMans 1988-1993.

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cactsbob Posted: 9/12/2010 7:36am PDT

I remember when GM bragged about reopening a Canadian assembly plant after the bailout. The "German engineered" commercial & the bragging about reopening the Canadian assemble plant after the US tax payer bailout are examples that GM still doesn't get it. We have great American engineers. Let those American engineers design American cars & let GM brag about it.

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Femi Posted: 9/28/2010 1:15pm PDT

As an American company, i find it odd that GM is touting a Cadillac as "German Engineered" especially in a commercial being targeted at Americans. It suggests that: GM knows that American engineered cars are inferior to the German ones. Does this mean that we should start buying German cars instead of other American-engineered GM cars. It's hard to imagine any German auto company touting a foreign-engineered car. Why buy a Caddy when you can buy a Benz, Audi or BMW.

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Bert Posted: 9/29/2010 8:05pm PDT

Opel has been struggling on and off for decades so needs to constantly think how to save money & do more w/ less. The German high quality suffers in such an environment.
Still, I feel that the cars coming out of German plants are of better quality compared to what rolls off the lines in the US. One of the reasons being that the US consumer accepted for a long time which wouldn't sell in Germany. (Sorry for the strong opinion: I lived 30 years there, 15 here and continue to commute, so continue to sample the differences.) We are catching up, Ford faster than the others in my eyes.
So my answer: Both, the German engineering makes the car appear better and it puts the US engineering down at the same time..
Needless to say, none of that sits well w/ Americans that struggle or don't have a job right now, and plenty others. Though the majority of people having enough money buy European, most of them German, or high end Jap.
Interesting twist: The platform for the Insignia is also used for the 2010 LaCrosse and the next Saab 9-5. Now who designed the platform? Also, where is US Insignia being assembled?

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GermanEngnrdAmerican Posted: 12/26/2010 7:46pm PST

I don't know what you guys' problem with German engineering is (besides xenophobia) but that's the only thing that made me google this model of Buick. I loathe Buicks and any other car that requires more than five minutes of wrenching to remove the battery. The engine compartments of Buicks of past decades have been an unmitigated disaster zone, impossible to work on without losing skin and blood on all sides of one's hands. They've been unwieldy, inefficient, uncomfortable and ugly. If they paid Germans to engineer this model, that's the smartest possible thing they could've done with their American dollars and I salute them. I'll probably go test one and if they test out well and the price is right, I might even buy one in a few years (never buy the first model year of a redesign). As my ancestors in Germany might have said: "zum wohl!"

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frederik Posted: 12/31/2010 3:34am PST

I can´t see what should be bad about it. This car has already been fully engineered/developed as Opel/Vauxhall for the European market anyway (nothing was outsourced or farmed out), so it did not drain any additional money in terms of engineering costs etc. Therefore "Buick" and/or the American taxpayer payed nothing at all for this model - actually they kind of received it for free (imagine to benefit from a product completely developed by someone else - pretty neat, eh?). BTW, due to GM management failures Opel workers were laid off or suffered from heavy loan cuts etc. and therefore contributed exuberantly to the good value of this Regal. No problem to design a Regal by US engineers from the scratch, but then buyers will have to pay for that as well - with this Regal they won´t have to. It still might be discussed if the cars for sale should be manufactured in the US homeland, but then again with the same argument other countries might similarly restrain from importing any US products...

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David Posted: 1/6/2011 11:30am PST

It comes down to building (parts or car) where it's cheaper. The "German touch" sounds great but in fact lately German cars rate poorly by consumer mags and they are making theirs wherever they can get cheap labor. Large companies don't care about the people in this country only profits. If they can get it made in Mexico, China or anyplace labor is cheap they will. What a rude thing to have the American public bale out companies only to have them provide jobs for other countries workers. We are expected to buy their cars but can't because we have no jobs, they are all being sent overseas. Hello? Time to bring back tariffs and stop this.

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David Posted: 1/6/2011 11:32am PST

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Jakib Posted: 2/23/2011 8:55am PST

Reinforcing the misconception that German engineering is superior reflects the bias of the people calling the shots. Buick has always made superior cars, while Opul has not. They lost me on this one as soon as I saw the ad.

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