Given the all hype surrounding the new Avista, it’s easy to forget that just 12 months ago, another award-winning Buick concept was unveiled in the form of the Avenir.
Designed as a sleek and stylish four-door, the Avenir was based on the Cadillac CT6’s Omega platform and fitted with all-wheel drive.
General Motors has played down the possibility of the car ever reaching the production line, though it wouldn’t give any official confirmation. Until now.
Talking to Automobile Magazine, Buick/GMC chief Duncan Aldred said the Avenir was from the outset meant to be just a concept and there was never any intention of it making it past that stage.
“We’re not going to build Avenir. We never went into the show with the plan to build it. You’re going to see elements of Avenir in LaCrosse. But the reaction we got last year did stimulate a lot of valuable work, really looking at ‘can we, should we build that car’. Bottom line is, that didn’t quite work for us. And… the sedan market is declining quite rapidly. We’ve also got an emerging and strengthening Cadillac line as well, and you’ve got to look at that potential. It would have been a viable business case, but we haven’t got unlimited capital.”
As for this year’s Avista concept, there seems to be a much stronger chance of it leaping to the real world. Believed to be underpinned by the chassis of the Cadillac ATS and Chevrolet Camaro, Aldred suggested we may see it as a future Buick halo car.
“The capabilities are there to build it; it was brought into here as a pure concept… We have a halo in the range, the Cascada. When that’s run its course — it’s right at the beginning of its journey, but you’ve got to plot ahead in this game — I’d like another halo for Buick.”
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