!NEW! Avenir Sub-Brand to Represent Highest Expression of Buick Luxury

Concept car-inspired models will join global portfolio in 2018 model year

 

Buick Avenir Sub-Brand

Across continents, a growing set of new customers are discovering unexpected and attainable luxury experiences from Buick. Soon, those customers will be introduced to a new Avenir sub-brand designed to grow with the needs of future luxury buyers.

The Avenir sub-brand is inspired by Buick’s evolving customer base. The brand has grown quickly with female buyers, and one in two Buick customers today are coming from competitive brands. They’re expecting a high-end experience and premium quality. For example, 90 percent of Enclave buyers purchase one of the top two trim levels.

This year, an unprecedented number of new global products such as the Envision compact SUV and the 2017 LaCrosse sedan offer an elevated luxury experience that’s encouraging new car buyers to reassess what they know about Buick.

“Through the first half of 2016, Buick has been the industry’s fastest-growing major international brand, and Avenir is key to future growth and delivering on the high expectations of new customers coming to our showrooms,” said Duncan Aldred, vice president of Global Buick Sales, Service and Marketing. “Avenir will be Buick’s signature. The highest expression of the luxury experiences we’re delivering now and in the future.”

Avenir vehicles will add distinct touches to Buick’s timeless, sculpted designs, including a three-dimensional mesh grille, large-diameter wheels, and unique trim finishes. Inside, Avenir models will enhance the brand’s quiet, inviting environment with unique seat details, modern trim materials and Avenir script identification.

The name “Avenir,” French for “future,” is taken from the award-winning concept sedan from 2015. That concept and this year’s Avista coupe concept — from which the new sub-brand borrows its grille pattern — have served as guideposts for designers sketching and modeling Buick’s future.

“Stretching the Buick brand’s international appeal and potential has been a major focus of exploration in our design studios,” said Helen Emsley, executive director of Buick Global Design. “Concept cars stretch the boundaries of what is possible and every new Buick is benefitting from this vision work. As the Avenir concept expressed the prestige vision for the portfolio, the addition of an Avenir sub-brand illustrates an important piece of future direction.”

Additional Avenir details and product specifics will be announced later.

!NEW! Meet the Opel ADAM – The Ultimate Lifestyle Accessory

Opel has launched the ultimate lifestyle accessory – the Opel ADAM – with LISOF at South Africa’s first design collab, showcasing the magic that occurs when thrilling design meets meticulous engineering. 

 Opel ADAM is designed for people who seek self-expression through their clothes, lifestyle and cars

The Opel ADAM is Opel’s first entry into the luxury mini vehicle segment, and its range of trend-setting, almost limitless personalisation options allows drivers to display their personality and taste in ways never before seen on South African roads.

“ADAM is designed for people who seek self-expression through their clothes, lifestyle and cars. For this reason, vehicle personalisation using the available choices of colours, wheels and interior design allow owners to be fully involved in the finishing details of their car,” says Christopher Cradock, Opel Brand Manager at General Motors South Africa.

When designing their final garments, LISOF’s 2014 graduating class drew inspiration from the fusion of technology and creativity that optimises the Opel ADAM.

“Launching the Opel ADAM with LISOF perfectly illustrates the attention given to aesthetics and technical expertise in both vehicle and fashion design. In both industries, art and science merge, resulting in fashion and cars that enable individuals to stand out in a crowd,” says Cradock.

“The fact that it is LISOF’s 20th anniversary made our collaboration even more fitting. Design excellence has been part of Opel’s DNA for more than 150 years, and so working with South Africa’s youngest fashion designers who are, in their own industry, establishing a similar heritage of excellence resonated deeply with us.”

The Opel ADAM is an A-segment, 3-door, 4-seat hatchback with firm emphasis on class-leading ergonomics and modern design, dynamic driving experience, superior technology and overall premium build quality.

Personalisation options begin with the exterior paint colours, with funky names such as ‘Red ‘n Roll’, ‘Purple Fiction’, ‘Pump Up The Blue’, ‘The Greyfather’, ‘James Blonde’, ‘Saturday White Fever’, ‘I’ll Be Black’ and ‘Silverwalker’.

Further differentiation happens at the factory by selecting interior fabric and colour schemes, sunroof options and ambient lighting packages dependent on the model selected.

Once at the dealership, a choice of quick-fitment accessories adds a finishing touch, allowing owners to precisely show off their personalities. Customisable items include interior décor elements on the dashboard and doors, rear-view mirror covers, exterior mirror caps, wheel centre-caps, front logo bars, wheel clips for the model-specific 18-inch Twister alloy wheels, aluminium sports pedals and a number of exterior decal packs.

“Owners have the freedom to assemble the perfect look for the exterior and interior of their Opel ADAM, while we take care of features ‘under the hood’,” says Cradock.   

These include ecoFLEX® Drive Assist to monitor energy and fuel consumption, allowing ADAM to be driven as efficiently as possible at all times.

City Mode Steering makes city-bound manoeuvring and parking, especially in tight spots, so much easier.

Appealing to the connected lifestyle of the target groups, Opel’s IntelliLink infotainment system provides a fully integrated smartphone connection for a hands-free infotainment experience.

“The Opel ADAM is the first of our ‘new Germans’ to arrive in South Africa, a vehicle that truly delivers on Opel’s promise of precision German-engineered, desirable cars with attractive design and the latest motor technology. All this, combined with the ability to affordably create a vehicle as unique as its owner makes the Opel ADAM much more than a car,” says Cradock. “The Opel ADAM is indeed an exciting urban lifestyle accessory.”

The Opel ADAM arrives in Opel dealerships in January 2015 with three models– ADAM, ADAM JAM and ADAM GLAM. For more information, visit www.opel.co.za.