5 Ways Buick Design Concepts Shape the Enclave

DETROIT TheStreet) -- For the moment, at least, Buick's design presence outstrips Buick's market presence.

Through the first four months of 2012, Buick sold 48,905 vehicles in the U.S., 8% of GM (GM) sales and just 1% of U.S. industry sales. Yet in design, Buick is more a leader than a follower. It's a brand that is largely defined by design that enables it to command a unique presence between Chevrolet, its parent's successful mass market brand, and Cadillac, which craves impact in the luxury sector.

Three things to remember about Buick: It survives at GM, while Ford (GM) dumped mid-market Mercury. It is the only brand among 42 brands of automobiles sold in the U.S. whose buyers are getting younger, according to a recent Polk study. (It now has the second oldest buyers.) And it was kept alive largely because of its China sales, which are three-and-a-half times times its U.S. sales. Perhaps the China card gives its designers more freedom to innovate, because that is what they have done.