General Motors (GM) has pulled the plug on plans to introduce in the US a new Buick SUV which would have included a plug-in hybrid version following negative feedback during a showcase to employees, potential customers, dealers, media and analysts. The cancellation comes just two weeks after the plans were announced.
GM’s Vice Chairman Tom Stephens wrote on a company blog yesterday that plans for the new hybrid and the ‘compact crossover’ SUV had been cancelled because it “received consistent feedback from large parts of all the audiences that it didn’t fit the premium characteristics that customers have come to expect from Buick.”
However Stephens said that the decision to cancel the plans was an example of the newly reorganized GM; ‘acting quickly, and boldly, and listening to feedback from customers, employees, dealers, media and just about anyone else with an opinion.’
Importantly GM confirmed that the plug-in hybrid technology would be applied to another vehicle instead.
The carmaker received feedback on the model online too, one user on Twitter labelled the new Buick ‘hideous’.
Not deterred, Stephens added: ‘there’s the proof, in my eyes, that the new GM is listening, and moving quickly. Watch this space.’
