AdminAutomakers are having a bit of an identity crisis this week. One abandons his heritage for an avant-garde EV future, while another who seemingly only wants to build mediocre crossovers is suddenly thrust into the pop culture spotlight. I won’t discuss who is the first, but the last is Buick, and he can blame (or thank) Kendrick Lamar.
Lamar, a multi-platinum, multi-award winning West Coast rapper, released a surprise new album yesterday called ‘GNX’. Like the Buick ‘Grand National eXperimental’, a limited edition turbocharged Regal. This Grand National explainer is a great trip down memory lane.
Some keyboard warriors will claim it’s a play on “Generation Ambiguity? Triple? Who knows? But Lamar’s teaser video has racked up more than 2.4 million views since its debut (and counting). And there’s no denying that the Buick GNX is an integral part of the music. The vehicle – two of them – is the centerpiece of the one-minute teaser.
Lamar later released audio of 12 new songs and, no surprise, “GNX” and “Grand National” appear lyrically throughout. There are multiple levels of excitement here: Lamar fans have more music for their playlists, car nerds can look forward to the appearance of something a little less, er, nerdy, and Buick is, at least on some level, cool again, which isn’t the has been the case. since, well, the last GNX existed.
Lamar has done in 60 seconds what Buick has demonstrably not done in the past thirty years: make people curious about Buick. A key indicator of this renewed interest is that one of the main comments on that teaser video is a brief explanation of what the GNX was.
If Buick knew what was good for it, Buick should embrace this newfound spotlight, even if it means simply riding the moment on social media, because I don’t see the Encore GX grabbing the same level of attention anytime soon. It’s a perfect opportunity for the brand to reintroduce itself to a generation that may not have thought about it for years, if ever.
But so far, Buick is sitting on its three shields instead of addressing the Darth Vader in the room. How dare Lamar hand the Buick PR team this golden goose on a Friday afternoon? This is despite the fact that Regal GNX, classic models, lowriders and even donks make up the majority of the automaker’s recently tagged photos, not the current crop of CUVs.
So what if Lamar’s nostalgic shout doesn’t match Buick’s new tagline “Exceptional by design”? Doesn’t exceptional technology go hand in hand with exceptional design? Sigh. There’s a reason why a nearly 40-year-old Regal is making waves as a pop culture talking point in a way that today’s Buick models can only dream of.
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