Buick Saturates Vegas With 11 Custom Whips

LAS VEGAS — The average age of Buick buyers — somewhere in the low 60s — is the highest among all General Motors brands.

How to lower that demographic and broaden Buick's appeal to younger buyers? According to the General's marketing wizards, the answer lies in an all-out assault on SEMA, with an arsenal of 11 customized Buick Lucernes, chrome portholes and all.

Buick tapped a variety of sources to collaborate on its SEMA portfolio, from RIDES magazine to a cross-country/cross-cultural variety of custom shops and tuning houses, including Rick Bottom Custom Motors, Rick Dore Kustoms, D3 Design & Engineering, Performance West, Mitek/MTX, Trent's Trick Upholstery, Fesler Productions, Concept 1, Stainless Steel Brakes and Spade Kreations/American Racing.

One of the nicer-looking treatments is Rick Bottom's Lucerne CXX Luxury Liner, with a white-and-gold paint scheme, ground-effects body bits and a 40-horsepower kick in the pants to the car's standard 270-hp 4.6-liter V8.

Urban VIP treatment was rendered by RIDES magazine, with a lowered suspension, custom body kit, larger wheels and tires, custom suede cabin and mobile entertainment system. Buick's press material quotes Ben Harris of RIDES as saying: "We felt the Lucerne was the perfect candidate for customization because it has plenty of styling in its stock form, with enough open room to put our own spin on it. We like that it's a premium American full-body sedan, looks great in a VIP style, and think this Buick will do very well in the urban market."

© Source: original article on insideline