For those of you who weren’t aware, the title is a quote I paraphrased from Mean Girls, a film that came out just a few years before this advertisement. One of the titular mean girls, Gretchen, kept describing things as “fetch“, a rather pathetic attempt to invent slang and start a new trend. This advertisement was a rather pathetic attempt to make the Buick Lucerne cool.
Buick was indeed trying to make fetch happen, advertising these SEMA cars in various magazines, instead of letting it naturally catch on. Did GM ever advertise the Impala or Caprice specifically to lowrider and donk enthusiasts? No. Eventually, they discovered those cars on their own. And indeed, large American sedans often seem to eventually find a group of admirers who customize them.
If Buick wanted to make the Lucerne cool right off the bat instead of waiting for that second- or third-owner wave, they probably shouldn’t have given it a lackluster base engine or overly discreet styling. A Lucerne styled like the Chrysler 300 would have had instant cool appeal. The Lucerne, styled as it was, was always going to need more time to become dope or tight or on fleek.
But probably not fetch. That’s not going to happen!
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Future Curbside Classics: The Smooth, Quiet Road to Nowhere: Buick Lucerne
This ad just goes to show how stupid GM and salesmen can be. although it did fortell the future as far as these cars becoming “street cool” the car itself would never be aimed at that demographic. this is how Lexus was able to get Buick’s customers in the 90’s on up. thankfully Buick was able to get them back and then some.
Didn’t Ford try forcing a catchphrase once too? I remember commercials with a guy that said “That’s clutch” all the time.
Marketing jerks are all out of touch. They’re only trying to get accolades from their peers. Just like the Emmys, Grammys, etc.
Either it worked or they were early to the trend, because young people are in fact now saying “that’s clutch.”
After living on Chicago’s north side for 3 years, this isn’t too far fetched….
I was gonna say- if you actually see a Lucerne these days, they probably look like one of these.
I think any of them are an improvement over stock. The rims are definitely dated, though.
I see the point.
But then when a ‘cool car’ flops, like Chevy SS [from AUS], then it’s “they didn’t promote it enough”.
Given Australian manufacturing costs combined with the added expense of shipping it over here, I believe those guys who say “they lost money on every one”.
I’m not sure GM wanted anyone to buy it.
If GM wanted any appreciable volume from the Chevy SS, then they’d have been more aggressive in marketing it.
So I’d argue that the car wasn’t a flop, it was simply that GM Holden discontinued the Commodore/Statesman so the platform was no longer available.
If anything, its Caprice PPV sister was a flop because the car ran afoul on many municipalities’ Buy American rules and was therefore off-limits for those police departments.
I imagine that Buick was thinking of what appears to be a very pretty small city in Switzerland when they named this car, and maybe the One Percenters that make these kind of decisions are actually familiar with it.
But, for the average Buick buyer in the Midlands, Lucerne has always been really cool, and very affordable at your nearby Safeway……..
+1
That was the first thing I thought of when Buick said they were replacing the LeSabre with the Lucerne.
Definitely one for the “What were they thinking?” files….
Bob Lutz was born in Lucerne Switzerland, someone at Buick was making a direct appeal to one of the top brass with that name.
Buick must have been looking at the last-generation Infiniti Q45 for the model of the Lucerne’s styling.
I agree! And it helped neither the Q45 nor the Lucerne that both of those cars have the same window silhouette as the 2002-2006 Altima. Ugh.
As I remember the Chrysler 300 came out a couple of years before and got a cool vibe right away with custom and donk fans. In that light this is an extra pathetic (and oh-so pre bankruptcy GM) attempt to plead “hey kids, I’m cool too”. They were cool – in 1947. Not in 2007.
Buick was cool in the 60’s 70s, even the 80s, with frist Riviera, GS/GSX, and GN/GNX cars. Was when they went full “traditional” after the last GN.
They didn’t “always” build beige FWD Centurys.
Although even when the GNX was in production, beige FWD Centurys were their bread-and-butter. Even on the G body, broughamy Regals outnumbered GNs (and even T-types) by a ratio of “see them everywhere” to “only see them in car magazines”.
LOL on fleek
Excellent
It’s wicked tubular, daddy-o!
I remember these being shown at the show. They are so ghetto fabulous it isn’t funny. Such a turn off to see the manufacturer go full JC Whitney. I guess they appeal to someone, somewhere. But to someone who actually thought the pre-refresh, pre-Super Lucerne CXS was an interesting, attractive car, these seem like they’re trying way too hard. But, then, Pimp My Ride was popular then, too.
So, so fetch.
I remember reading about Buick and the SEMA show. Custom paint, wheels and lowered a bit. Not exactly “custom” in the usual sense. Couldn’t Buick have lined up a supplier for custom grilles, tail lights, and bumper and ground effects, so that the cars could at least look a little different? They could have marketed these as dealer installed items.
The Lucerne had styling as bland as generic vanilla ice cream. The Chrysler 300 on the other hand had the looks of the gansta’ car down as it rolled out of the showroom. I guess Buick thought some of the Donk builders would want to start with a fresh brand new vehicle to work their magic. Can’t force cool.
The base 3800 should’ve been supercharged. Someone at GM thought the Northstar-powered Lucerne was a proper replacement for the Park Avenue Ultra.
Haha wow. I’ve never seen these ads before but they are absolutely ridiculous. Like “does she even go here?”.
Love the title btw.
Buick was trying to be cool, hot, neat, keen, tough, groovy, rad, and phat. Funny how only “cool” and “hot” have stood the test of time!
This ad was not really that well known anyway.
Now, Buick sales are up, selling CUV’s, and the snickering about ‘old folks cars’ is a dated trope. In fact, most current 60-70 y/o folks are elder Boomers, buying modern UV’s, not pining for an old Grand Marquis.
To most chat rooms, I want to say “stop trying to make full size cars happen [again]”
If someone put a gun to my head and made me choose one of those, uhh, creations, I’d choose the VIP (“pronounced vipp”). But as I noted earlier, the resemblance to the Altima via the Q45 cannot be unseen – and the Lucerne, Q, and Altima all tend to be hideously modified at this point in time.
I just see 4 Ventiports. If I had one of those, it could be as butt-ugly as you want, because all you would ever see is the rear end anyway!
I remember these. That whole episode was just painful…
1960s films and TV shows often had cringe worthy attempts at sucking up to young people. “We need to throw a bone to the hippies here.” If they had omitted these elements, they wouldn’t look so dated now.
But sometimes it worked, as with “Laugh-In” and “Bonnie and Clyde.”
I’d driven this car’s Cadillac DTS clone. Several different cars on different occasions from stop & go traffic to 125mph on the interstate.
1) My kid’s ’93 Taurus SHO with worn-out tires felt more solid at high speed.
2) The 2013 Sonic I drove as a loaner a couple years ago felt more solid at all speeds (although I didn’t take it over 75).
3) My wife’s 2011 Equinox…um, ditto.
Some of these Lucernes don’t look half-bad, although there’s a certain something that still screams “CHEAP!” Truly sad…
Buick didn’t need a remix, but a reinvention that has now, fortunately, finally happened. It remains to be seen if Avenir-ing all the things will be enough to make a dent in the public perception.
True Dat!!
“This is not your grandmother’s Buick”.