How has Buick survived 110 years?

Surviving isn’t anything new for Buick, which celebrates its 110th anniversary Sunday. The brand -- founded on May 19, 1903 by former plumber David Dunbar Buick -- is the oldest still-active automotive brand in America and one of the oldest in the world.

DETROIT- Five years ago, many doubted Buick would still exist today.

General Motors, the brand’s owner, was going through its largest restructuring in history and many thought Buick was going to be scrapped with the likes of Hummer, SAAB, Saturn and possibly even Pontiac.

“If you would have said Pontiac or Buick (in 2008-2009), Pontiac would have gotten the nod from most Americans because it still had a more interesting history, it was still … not necessarily meaningful at the time, but it had a more lasting legacy,” said Karl Brauer, editor in chief and CEO of car comparison and research website TotalCarScore.com.

Brauer, like many auto industry experts, believed Pontiac was a much more valuable brand than Buick, which was known for having drivers almost as old as the century-old brand itself. Plus, GM already had Cadillac to fill its luxury slot. So why would it want Buick?

In the end, Buick survived GM’s government-backed bankruptcy and Pontiac was cut with the other three now-extinct brands.

But surviving isn’t anything new for Buick, which celebrates its 110th anniversary Sunday. The brand -- founded on May 19, 1903 by former plumber David Dunbar Buick -- is the oldest still-active automotive brand in America and one of the oldest in the world.

Heritage

Buick, founded as the Buick Motor Co. in Detroit, started when people were still referring to automobiles as “horseless carriages” and General Motors co-founder William C. “Billy” Durant was still a Flint carriage company owner.

And although Buick, then the Buick Motor Co., was founded in the Motor City, it arguably wouldn’t be around today without a move to Flint, Mich. in 1903. From 1903-1998, Flint, then known as “Vehicle City” for its vigorous carriage industry, was Buick’s home.

“(Buick) actually spurred the creation of General Motors (in 1908) and the purchase of Oldsmobile, Cadillac and Oakland, which later became Pontiac,” said Greg Wallace, manager and historian of the GM Heritage Center, which stores historical cars and documents. “There’s been a lot of things over the years that have cemented the quality of Buick.”

On its reliability and quality in the 20th century, Buick quickly turned into a brand that mainstream consumers aspired to own and the wealthy respected. That reputation has helped the brand continue to survive, according to officials.

Buick U.S. Vice President of Buick Marketing Tony DiSalle said Buick for decades has been able to position itself at the right level between mainstream and luxury, while continuing to evolve with time.

“It’s had the right to own this space for quite some time, dating back all the way back to the 1950s when it was perceived as the 'doctor’s car',” he said. “Quite frankly, in the luxury space, it differentiates us from the traditional brands that are about membership to an exclusive club.”

Analysts said Buick’s brand equity has helped it through its history, but its reputation in another country saved it from being scrapped during the auto bailout in 2009.

China

Chinese consumers are expected to purchase 30 million vehicles annually by 2020, which bodes well for Buick. China is Buick’s highest-volume market thanks to its own rich heritage of being an emperor’s vehicle.

Buick’s first sales office in China opened in 1929, but there are photographs of Dr. Sun Yatsen, first provisional president of the Republic of China, riding in a Buick in Shanghai in 1912.

“That’s why Buick is still alive,” Brauer said. “That gave an entire huge country an image of what Buick was … that image stuck even through Buick’s darker times in this country as well and amazingly it has never really slid in China.”

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said automakers sold 19.3 million vehicles in China in 2012, nearly 4 million more than the U.S. market.

Led by Buick, Shanghai GM’s sales increased 10.9 percent last year to a record more than 1.3 million units in China. Buick sales in China increased 8.4 percent on an annual basis, finishing 2012 at a year-end high of 700,007 units, dwarfing the brand’s U.S. sales of about 180,400 cars and trucks.

China spurred GM to sell 895,133 Buick vehicles worldwide in 2012, a 7 percent increase from 2011 and a 55 percent increase from 2002.

“I think that GM is in a very good position with Buick now because they don’t have to be super successful with the brand because of the growth rate in China and the continued affinity within China,” Brauer said.

If Buick, according to Brauer, just offers “competitive, not necessarily best” vehicles in China, it will continue to do well because of its heritage and the country's expected growth.

The importance of China to the brand was highlighted last month, when a new Buick Riviera concept debuted at the Auto Shanghai 2013 auto show.

“Buick is very successful in China and it’s important to do debuts of a concept vehicle there,” DiSalle said. “Buick has a lot of equity over there.”

DiSalle said while China is important to Buick, there remains growth potential in the U.S.

Design renaissance

Buick is at the beginning of its second vehicle lineup overhaul since its near-death experience in 2009. 

The first “design renaissance,” as DiSalle puts it, started with the 2008 Enclave full-size crossover SUV, followed by the 2010 LaCrosse full-size sedan, 2011 Regal midsize sedan and 2012 Verano compact sedan.

In 2012, sales were up 76 percent from 2009 to 180,408 sold. While still minuscule compared to its sales in China, DiSalle said Buick should continue to improve domestically with the upcoming next-generation Enclave and 2013 Encore small SUV, which launched in January.

“It was really the combination of Buick’s positioning combined with this great new product that has enabled us to kind of achieve the momentum in the market place that we’ve seen,” DiSalle said. “Now is as strong a time as any, in certainly our recent history, in terms of the product offering.”

Through April, Buick sales were up 23 percent from the same time a year ago to 64,777 units. The best-selling vehicle domestically this year is the Enclave, topping 20,609 units through April.

However, while sales have increased, the brand’s market share has remained below 2 percent in the U.S. since 2003, according to Edmunds.com. Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst for the auto research website, said Buick’s U.S. market share is hindered by its own positioning in the market place between luxury and mainstream.

“People who buy luxury today, buy on image,” she said. “There really isn’t that discreet luxury buyer."

Caldwell said the brand’s market share could increase over time, but it needs to introduce more products or do more with branding to be universally appealing.

"They're definitely in a better place then they have been, but I think it's hard being between Chevrolet and Cadillac," she said. "But in terms of product, I think this is the best we've seen them in awhile."

In terms of sales, the '80s were arguably Buick’s heyday, according to analysts. In 1985, production of the Century and Electra spurred Buick’s North American production to top 1 million units.

DiSalle said part of Buick's overall plan with its newest overhaul is to enter “white space,” or segments where Buick has not traditionally been. He said both the Verano and Encore are great examples of how the brand is entering new segments and attempting to grow in the U.S.

"Verano is really the conquest leader in the pack, so we'd anticipate Encore to also conquest well for the brand," he told reporters when the Encore launched.

According to Buick, the average customer age for the brand has dropped to 57, a seven-year decline from five years ago, and the brand’s overall conquest average has increased 43 percent over the last five years. Officials say more than 50 percent of Verano buyers are new to Buick.

DiSalle said although Buick’s lineup may look a little different from when Buick began more than a century ago, the same founding principles that made the brand successful in its early years still drive it today.

“I think it’s a really exciting time to be in the Buick business right now,” he said. “It’s really taken this combination of a well-positioned brand through history … and continuing to innovate and never really being complacent at all.”