Buick Reatta - What Were They Thinking?

Seeing this little Buick reminds me of a program director I worked for years ago who, when something would go wrong, would slam us (metaphorically) with his signature admonishment, "what were you thinking?".

 

I have to wonder, with regards to the Buick Reatta, "what were they thinking?" Buick, that is. Not whomever bought one for while I'm not a fan of the Reatta, I can appreciate that someone could be. My issue is with who approved this obviously niche-niche-niche targeted vehicle for production in the first place. Did General Motors really think that a two passenger, pseudo sporty, weird looking Buick would sell? What were they thinking?

As long as I've been on this green earth, Buick has had identity problems and they have been forever trying to change perception as to what a "Buick" is. Just recently I saw a commercial for the Buick Verano where a stereotypical looking grandmother barks out, "that's not a Buick!" What is a Buick anyway? A sporty, junior Cadillac? Then what was Oldsmobile? Alfred Sloan's ladder of marques for GM could be as confining as it was supposed to define what each brand was supposed to be. Years ago being the rung in the ladder either below Cadillac or above Oldsmobile meant that Buick's could get quite stodgy, frumpy. The Buick Grand National and GNX, which were discontinued just as this thing went on sale, played against that type but muddied the idea of what a Buick was just the same as the Reatta. Is Buick for old people or young people? Can you be both? Reatta was supposed to be a vehicle that would show the world grand dad could still cut the rug. To a point. Modest underpinnings and weird styling (did the team that designed the front ever meet the team that designed the back?) can only do so much but for the all important image, Buick wanted the world to know that this was not your father's Buick.

Reatta's biggest problem, aside from the lack of a cohesive design and whether or it was a good idea in the first place, was cost. A two passenger Reatta cost upwards of $5000 more than the car it was based on, the four passenger Riviera. All the hoopla about handcraftsmanship and superior build quality in the world couldn't coax "near luxury car" buying Buick customers to cough up the extra money for Reatta and its two seats as opposed to the Riviera's four. Or depending on the size and number of the grand children you had, five.

Sales of the pricey, two passenger, odd little Buick were, not surprisingly, disastrous. Buick selling just 4700 Reatta's in 1988 against a business case projection of 20,000.  Peak sales were in 1990 when 8500 Reatta's found buyers. A figure reached in part by the introduction of a convertible whose styling did away with the coupe's odd bread basket handle profile. The Reatta was a dead end for Buick and GM quietly dropped it for 1992. 

 

 

Buick then as it is now is a division of General Motors and one would think GM launched an automobile with at least some degree of market research revealing that there was an untapped market for a two passenger, bath tub shaped pseudo sports car. Did they do any research? If they did and it came back that a two seat Buick was viable something got lost in translation. Chances are, as is the case so many times when "corporate" makes mandates, like with that beaten down radio station with that tactless jerk program director I worked at years ago, there was no research.   

 

What were they thinking?

 

Reatta was Buick's second two passenger automobile. Their first was the Model 46 business coupe  they introduced in 1940. It lasted four model years, same as the Reatta.

To the best of my knowledge that guy never worked in radio again after that station went dark.