Buick models

Buick is one of America's oldest car brands, founded in 1903 by David Dunbar Buick, and it was important enough that its early success helped create General Motors itself. For most of the last century it occupied a specific rung: a near-luxury brand for buyers who had moved up from a basic Chevrolet but didn't want a Cadillac.

That made Buick the comfortable, quiet, slightly conservative choice, known for smooth-riding sedans favoured by older American drivers. The image was both its strength and its problem, dependable but unexciting, and the brand spent years trying to attract a younger audience.

The twist in Buick's story is China, where the brand is genuinely prestigious and sells in huge numbers, which has kept it alive and shaped its modern lineup of crossovers and SUVs. For buyers, Buick today is about quiet comfort and value in the space just below luxury. It is not a brand that chases attention, and for a certain kind of driver that restraint is exactly the appeal.