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March 20th, 2004
 revised April 15th, 2004

Upcoming Buick Velite Concept combines roadster fun and proportions, edgy elegance, glitzy hedonism, and seating for four

Velite designer Sang Yup Lee notes that his concept "speaks the language of modern design trends around the globe - a statement of strength through elegance, not extravagance."

We think even Rolls-Royce could take note; where the Phantom looks down at admirers, the Velite draws the eye.

Velite's jewelry is in the detailing, as a general sense of restraint abounds in the overall form. Cooling vents are slotted next to its crystalline headlamps

Buick's last convertible, the Reatta

Reatta turned out just under 2,500 copies between 1990 and 1991

The Velite Concept features a much shorter front overhang, a weightier rear bulkhead, more muscular styling, and - of course - rear-wheel-drive.

This is an exquisitely proportioned roadster with a short front and longer rear overhang. Unlike the Reatta, the space between the front wheel and fender rises to create a substantial bulkhead at the rear...

... which is cut by rear-three-quarter bulges over the rear lamps that recall Buicks of the '70s in stretching deep into the flanks.

Buick hopes to take you back still further, to Harley Earl's 1938 Y-Job. There is every indication that, in 2007, its cars will recall those heady days as much as the actor who plays Earl in Buick's commercials

The dials feature the ‘crushed ice’ effect of the Land Rover Range Stormer Concept, and are set in a dashboard whose leather stitching takes us back to the Centième Concept.

Charmingly enough, the center-mounted temperature display recalls the Reatta's old touch-screen controls

What looks like woodgrain on the shift knob and in the door panels is in fact Gold Leaf Lacquer. For us, it is the least convincing part of an otherwise inviting interior which features three colors of leather and indirect lighting

Why three porthole vents on each side? They sum to the six cylinders of the twin-turbo, 3.6-liter,  variable-valve-timed engine under the forward-folding hood. It puts out 400 horsepower and foot-pounds of torque through a six-speed automatic transmission

It will be 2007 before the Velite hits our roads; we suspect the wait will be worth it

Thirteen years have passed since the last – and only - Buick two-passenger car was produced. Coincidentally enough, we have not seen a roadster from the General’s near-luxury division in that time, either.

However, at the New York Auto Show last week, Buick gave hedonism another try – this time, with no hardtop (like the last few Reattas), but with seating for four.

Welcome, then, to the second appearance of GM's new premium rear/all-wheel-drive platform: a roadster named Buick Velite (a label Autoweek reports is "derived from a group of elite, fast-moving troops.") Velite, says GM, "provides passengers an elegant environment while forging new ground in expressive, upscale, rear-drive, mid-size automobiles."

Buick’s last attempt at hedonism was a front-wheel-drive two-passenger coupé badged Reatta.

In 1988, the Reatta – internally dubbed 4EC97 - entered the world with a price tag close to $30,000.

The buyer got what Buick called a “Hand Crafted Car,” which essentially meant that teams of people collected at ‘Craft Stations’ along the production line to perform tasks on the cars.

Buick installed its first-generation 3800 V6 in the Reatta, which was amongst the very first General Motors vehicles to receive the powerplant.

After a slow start with just 4,708 Reattas sold in its first year, 7,009 moved in 1989 and 6.383 in 1990. The turn of the decade saw a convertible version, 4EC67, which managed 2,132 copies in 1990.

By 1991, however, the Reatta was done. Car and Driver noted that it "never felt the sports car magic," and its prohibitive price tag was out of the range of the Buick buyer.

1,214 coupes and 305 convertibles were sold in its final year when, after just under 22,000 Reattas, Buick called it a day.

The Lansing ‘Craft Center’ in Michigan now builds a different sort of roadster, the Chevrolet SSR, its 320 hourly employees also having been involved in the EV1 electric car and Cadillac Eldorado.

Buick's search for mass-produced-with-a-hint-of-craftsmanship may have ended in 1991, but its new one-off concept bears the same markings. Velite Concept, designed at GM’s Advanced Studio in Warren, Michigan by Sang Yup Lee working under Tom Peters, was assembled at renowned coachbuilder Stile Bertone’s studio in Italy.

The Velite Concept emerges at the New York Auto Show this week as a surprisingly production-ready second attempt at personal luxury since the demise of the Riviera.

However, Buick will not try the front-wheel-drive, two-seater Reatta route again; instead, rear seats are a must this time around (with their own HVAC controls, no less), as is - apparently - the use of Australian subsidiary Holden's Zeta rear/ all-wheel-drive architecture which underpins a different sort of 'VElite:' the Holden VE Commodore.

Bob Lutz's fingerprints are all over this one, just as they were in the first Concept to use Zeta: Opel's Insignia in Frankfurt last year (which featured a Lutz-was-here cigar humidor). Like Insignia, Velite benefits from a part-aluminum chassis with a five-link rear suspension; a great start for any flagship.

Now that the GM embargo on photos has ended (well after the pictures have made their way across the Internet), we are able to show you the Velite Concept.

This is an exquisitely proportioned roadster with a short front and longer rear overhang. Unlike the Reatta, the space between the front wheel and fender rises to create a substantial bulkhead at the rear, which is cut by rear-three-quarter bulges over the rear lamps that recall Buicks of the '70s in stretching deep into the flanks.

From atop, the bulkhead appears oval in nature, and its convex nature parallels the incision of the horizontal rear tail-lamps.

While they do not meet across the rear fascia, the tail-lamps stretch far enough horizontally to give a sufficiently convincing impression of a Buick.

The headlamps, on the other hand, are vertical, and surrounded by incisions that lend the front fascia a somewhat more fussy look than the rest of the car. However, the grille that separates them - if deceptively simple - is positioned and sized to recall Harley Earl's '30s Buick Y-Job.

Interestingly, the tail-lamps are three-dimensional in their wrapping around not only into the flanks, but into the bulkhead itself.

This follows Cadillac's 'Art & Science' form, if in a more rounded fashion. Buick's dabbling with the cuts and etches of postmodernism is interesting, but it surprises us given the division's intention of seeking a more conservative buyer.

Detailing is focused on flank cuts that outline relatively smooth surfacing, but the lamps emulate the ‘crushed ice’ effect of the Land Rover Range Stormer Concept’s own headlamps and tail-lamps. The same effect can be seen in the instrument dials, set in a dashboard whose leather stitching takes us back to the Centième. Charmingly enough, the center-mounted temperature display recalls the Reatta's old touch-screen controls.

What looks like woodgrain on the shift knob and in the door panels is in fact Gold Leaf Lacquer, which Buick notes is a "statement of richness in many Asian cultures." We are not entirely convinced, but perhaps it may work better under the cabin's indirect lighting - itself an exquisite final touch in a rather inviting interior. The three colors of leather - 'bronze pearl,' 'iceberg blue,' and woven tan - work together better than one might expect.

Chrome is remarkably absent for a car intended to resurrect Buick, and is found on the wheels, on the grille, on a thin strip along the tip of the bumper sill and around the passenger compartment, and encircling the three porthole vents Buick has seen fit to include.

Why three per side? They sum to the six cylinders of the twin-turbo, 3.6-liter, variable-valve-timed engine under the forward-folding hood. It puts out 400hp @ 6,200rpm and 400lb-ft @ 3,200rpm through a six-speed automatic transmission.

The overall effect works. The Velite Concept is, quite frankly, gorgeous - and Buick is, quite obviously, relevant. Indeed, Chief Designer Tom Peters says as much, noting "it’s a forward-looking vehicle that not only stands for Buick in America, but how American style, performance and prestige resonates in a contemporary, global form.”

Suddenly, this is a more confident Buick.

More self-assured, certainly, than the company that cancelled the Reatta without replacing it; than the company that elected not to build the 2001 Dave Lyons-designed Bengal Concept, and - debatably - more so than the company that designed that very car. Bengal, while voluptuous, was too clean a design for a flagship American roadster.

We may never see another Buick two-seater any more than similarly practical - if somewhat more downmarket - Škoda would produce a coupé, but Buick’s attempt to move up-market could not ask for a better flagship than the Velite.

Our only problem with it is waiting until late into 2007 to see it on the roads.