And yet, the A-Bodies stuck around, priced around $2-3k less than a base Regal or Cutlass Supreme and thus right in the heart of N-Body Skylark and Achieva territory. Then, of course, the GM-10 models had arrived and supplanted the Century/Ciera. The gas price fluctuations of the 1970s and 1980s had indirectly created a new segment of cars – populated by models like the Ford Tempo and the GM N-Bodies – that were positioned between compact offerings like the Buick Skyhawk and intermediates like the Buick Century. The Century and Ciera, though, were redundant. Perhaps there were political reasons, as was common with GM, like a need for their particular assembly factories to stay open or an outcry from dealers who appreciated their availability. But GM was seduced by the profitability of the A (for Ancient) platform and their continued sales performance. Indeed, the Pontiac 6000 and Chevrolet Celebrity were dead after 1991, having been directly replaced. At this point, GM should have cancelled the A-Body Century and Ciera. Greater effort had been put into differentiating the Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Pontiac versions, too. The GM-10 delays were unacceptable but by the time they arrived, although they weren’t the Taurus-beaters GM had hoped for, they weren’t clunkers. Sedan GM-10s took two long years to arrive, and Buick’s Regal sedan was delayed a further year. By the time they arrived in 1988, they came only as coupes despite a market that was clearly far more inclined towards sedans, as evidenced by the success of the Ford Taurus and GM’s own A-Body cars. New intermediates – the GM-10 cars – were in the pipeline during the mid-1980s, but they were delayed and delayed and development was mismanaged (you can read more in my article on the GM-10 Buick Regal). GM, meanwhile, had been shedding market share and the red ink was starting to spill thanks to the cavalcade of poor business decisions under my least favorite General Motors CEO, Roger Smith. Ford had been in big trouble early in the decade, but they were back with a vengeance.
Ford’s new intermediate had all-independent suspension, capable dynamics and utterly modern styling. Then, the 1986 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable came along and blew them away. The first front-wheel-drive A-Bodies were a smart repackaging of the trouble-prone X-Bodies, and while not perfect by any stretch, they showed that GM could make a modern, front-wheel-drive intermediate that could appeal to the masses. Let me share with you why these humdrum cars make me so angry.įirst, a clarification: early Century and Ciera sedans, coupes and wagons earn no such ire from me. (first posted ) Sometimes I wonder, if I grew up in America, would I be as big a fan of General Motors? I wonder this because as I look at these pictures of the front-wheel-drive, A-Body Buick Century and Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, my blood starts to boil.
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