Buick: it’s what old people drive (although GM wants to change that)

I had always suspected that our oldest citizens drive Buicks. It was confirmed in this article by David Olive on the surprising rebound of GM and Chrysler in the Toronto Star.

Recently, it turns out…

“GM’s decision not to renew its Tiger Woods endorsement contract is a key sign of a culture change essential to GM’s long-term prospects.

Tiger Woods and golf were the wrong message for Buick. During Woods’ long association with Buick, the average age of Buick owners rose to 72.

Liberated from appealing to older consumers, GM has outfitted its latest Buick LaCrosses and Regals with satellite navigation systems and DVD players important to the younger couples and family buyers to whom Buick strongly appealed only two decades ago. Thanks to that and sharper design, the average age of Buick owners has quickly dropped to 65.

So, the average age has dropped from 72 to 65. I guess that is progress of a sort. But I also had the morbid thought that maybe the older owners just, well, died. Or the owners in their 70s didn’t like all that stuff GM was putting in their Buicks and switched to something else. (Cadillac?)

Actually, I have rented Buicks before and I liked them. But I also thought: I can see why older people like to drive them. Soon enough, I will be older too: perhaps I will buy a Buick then.

Interestingly, according to the wikipedia entry, Buicks are big in China. In fact, the entire wikipedia entry is interesting. Take a look. And also, David Olive’s column is typically good.