Watch the Buick Verano carefully. The upscale compact car will say a lot about whether General Motors' global strategy works. It's a glimpse of GM's plan for two key brands on three continents.
In assembly plants from metro Detroit's Orion Township to China and Europe, thousands of jobs hinge on the car's success. With substantial tweaks for each region, the car is the Buick Verano in North America, Buick Excelle in China and Opel Astra in Europe.
The Verano rolls into U.S. Buick dealerships starting in December.
GM has been reinventing Buick for what feels like decades, but it may have finally hit on a formula that works: a quiet, upscale interior and exterior looks and performance that have high-end appeal without Cadillac's in-your-face brashness.
Until now, we had only two examples to define Buick's new passenger-car line: the LaCrosse and Regal. They're fine vehicles, but lousy data points. The two sedans are too close in size and price to reveal much about Buick's plan.
With the Verano as Buick's third car, we can begin to triangulate and understand the brand's aspirations and appeal.
The Verano will come with standard features like a sophisticated new system that combines a touch screen with voice-recognition control of phone, audio and navigation systems. There's also a heavy emphasis on what you might call subliminal comfort features: unobtrusive, even unnoticeable features that make the Verano a pleasant place to spend your time.
Keeping the interior quiet is Job 1, 2 and 3 at Buick. A quiet ride contributes disproportionately to drivers' perception of a car's quality and value. The Verano's windshield and front-side windows use extra-thick glass that is laminated to shut out noise.
The rear windows also use thicker glass. Automakers frequently ignore the rear windows because they don't affect the driver. Thanks to its experience in China, where its larger cars are frequently chauffeur-driven, Buick put a greater emphasis on passenger comfort.
The Verano has upscale touches its Chinese cousin, the Excelle, doesn't offer. Don't be surprised if they make it into the Excelle's next update, though. Building and selling a vehicle around the world provides opportunities to constantly share improvements from one region to another.
Sound insulation, from thicker windows to underbody aero panels and padding between the engine and the passenger compartment, adds weight. That reduced fuel economy, but Buick made the trade-off to ensure the Verano feels and sounds like a classy, high-end car.
It could afford to do that because the Verano's key competitors - the Audi A3 and Volvo C30 - are old and not particularly fuel-efficient. The Verano's expected EPA rating of 31 mpg on the highway beats their comparably equipped models.
Buick undoubtedly has tricks up its sleeve to wring a couple more mpg out of the Verano's 2.4-liter engine and six-speed automatic transmission, but highway fuel economy in the low-30s from a front-wheel drive compact won't turn any heads.
A couple of technologies Buick's overseas allies already use may, however. The Verano could offer either the eAssist electric boost system Buick uses in the Regal and LaCrosse in China - and soon here - or a fuel-efficient Opel diesel.