Buick Encore Packs Big Storage in Small Footprint

Dual glove boxes and fold-flat front seat among versatile crossover’s features

DETROIT – When the Buick Encore small luxury crossover goes on sale in early 2013, it will define a new market segment in the United States. But small doesn’t mean cramped when it comes to storage.

“Regardless of a vehicle’s size, Buick has a standard for what items must fit, from iPods and smartphones, to umbrellas and much larger items like handbags,” said chief engineer Jim Danahy. “With Encore, we used every space available, big or small, in a visually pleasing and useful way.”

Encore offers eight beverage holders, storage in all four doors, four different bins in the dash, pockets in the seatbacks, an available bin beneath the front passenger seat, and even bins under the rear load floor around the spare tire.

This holistic approach maximized traditional cargo space concerns and the ever-growing need to stow small gadgets. Deep pockets in each front door can hold a one-liter beverage, along with a book or tablet computer, plus a smaller item like an iPod or portable video game system like a 3DS.

Read More: http://www.media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2012/Feb/0220_encore

Chicago Buick Encore

Collectible Classic: 1963-1965 Buick Riviera

Fewer than twenty years after the first-generation Buick Riviera debuted, I was induced to write a chapter on cars for the Catalog of Cool, a cultural compendium assembled by an editorial team of swingin' savants. One of the entries: "Buick's hippest move was the Riviera (especially '63-'65): two-door hardtops with bucket seats, sharp looking from every angle. Inspiration apparently struck style chief Bill Mitchell one foggy night in London town -- a coachbuilt Rolls sliced through the mist, Bill flashed, and the Riv was born." Another three decades on from those scribblings, Mitchell's divine inspiration still has us fawning. His goal to combine the formality of a razor-edge Rolls-Royce with the aggressive stance of a Ferrari stands as one of the greatest styling triumphs of the midcentury.

The Riviera -- with its expansive egg-crate grille, pontoon fenders, neatly creased formal rear quarters, and sumptuous interior -- was more successful at recalling, not mimicking, styling of the classic era than the much-vaunted Continental Mark II. It also stole the spotlight from Ford's four-place Thunderbird that had the personal-luxury segment to itself since '58.

No two ways about it, the Riv was, and is, a scene-stealer of the highest order. Southern California resident Dan Gregg has lived with one such object of adoration for the better part of his life. His father acquired the breathtaking '64 seen here around the time that the Catalog of Cool went to press and bequeathed it to his son, who undertook a thorough, although not frame-off, restoration thereafter. Upon bearing witness to its brawny beauty, strangers invariably lament, "I had one of those; shoulda kept it."

The Gregg family chariot is a '64, very similar to the first-year model but for the fact that it has absolutely no visible Buick badging. Even the stand-up hood ornament, new for '64, was a stylized R rather than the Buick shield. These details underscore that the Riviera had a look all its own; it seemed to have come from a more tasteful automotive universe than its contemporaries. Even most Mercedes-Benzes still had fins at that time.

Read more: http://www.automobilemag.com/features/collectible_classic/1202_1963_1965_buick_riviera_collectible_classic/index.html#ixzz1mZpeP6dF

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Buick eAssist Smartphone App Makes A Game Out Of Saving Fuel

Want to get the next generation of drivers thinking green, long before they get behind the wheel?
Buick has come up with an innovative and fun app for Android and iPhone platforms that carefully blends entertainment with education. It bundles three games into one app, called Buick Fuel Efficiency Games.

Players learn about concepts like regenerative braking, aerodynamics and even Buick’s eAssist mild hybrid system, which provides supplemental electric power to boost acceleration without using additional fuel.

“Regeneration Road,” one of the three games included, has players focus on regenerative braking to increase battery charge. The goal of the game is to reach your destination with as much gasoline remaining in the tank as possible.

“Roll and Boost” gives players a simple understanding of how the eAssist mild hybrid system adds power and helps increase fuel economy. Players get a single tank of fuel, and the object of the game is to make that tank last as many miles as possible.

Read More: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1072335_buick-eassist-smartphone-app-makes-a-game-out-of-saving-fuel