Car Throttle

Buick Business Concept. Bland name, amazing vehicle. Like most of the other vehicles introduced at the Shanghai Auto Show, no official images came out immediately. Official press photography and press information have now been released though and wow, I'm impressed! Routan? Pfft. The Business Concept truly would be the ultimate minivan/MPV if produced. From here on out though, I'm going to refer to it with the MPV moniker. That's what Buick calls it, and it sounds better too. Avoids the whole "minivan" name tag stigma thing the United States is currently going through. According to Buick, the concept was designed with "global input" at the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC), a joint venture between GM and it's Chinese partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC). The Chinese seem to be best at designing Buicks; they just get it.

The minivan is dead; long live the minivan. Or something like that.  While the Minivan market has pretty much cratered in the US, the possibility of a luxurious people carrier makes a lot more sense in China.  And Buicks apparently make a lot more sense in China.  Thus, this: the Buick MPV concept. It's a co-design between Buick and the Pan-Asia Technical Automotive Center, who was also partially responsible for the rather pretty Riviera concept from back in 2007.  For a minivan, it's quite well-styled: it's even got a hint of Citroen to me from the side. I'm not sure the extent to which there's really a market for a vehicle like this in the US, though.  I mean,  Buick's last minivan - the oddly named Terraza