It's Super Bowl season, and that means new ads and commercials. On paper, the setup for Buick's latest sounds perfect. Kendrick Lamar, his Grammy-winning 'tv off,' and a black-and-white aesthetic. A vintage television flickers to life, and at its center is a black Buick Grand National Experimental otherwise known as the fabled GNX.
The GNX is one of the most iconic American performance cars of the 1980s, and it hits as Lamar recites the line 'all I ever wanted was a black Grand National.'
It feels like Buick is about to maybe do something big and bold. But then the camera pans out, the TV shuts off, and we have a red 2026 Envista.
The Envista is a fine product. It's competitively priced, decent-looking for what it is, and perfectly adequate for commuting.
Of course, it has nothing to do with the GNX. Not a single visual cue, no such thing as a performance angle, no throughline, not even a wink.
In fact, even the Buick badges are different, too. This is nostalgia for the sake of it, not for the substance of it.
Contrast that with how other brands play this game. Volkswagen's ID.Buzz is expensive and short on range, sure, but at least it looks like a modern descendant of the original Microbus.
The DNA is there. The intent is obvious. Buick, meanwhile, dangled the GNX like a carrot and then pivoted straight into a vehicle that could've been wearing almost any logo.
Don't take my word for it either. Here are just a few of the comments online about this from random folks:
'Really cool. But then they show the new car and.. blah.'
'No lie it had me thinking 'damn if thats the car that's coming out I might have to get one' then they show the red car and have never wanted a buick less lol'
'They couldn't even have the car be black at least? Kills the vibe'
'This commercial just makes me want a gnx. The new Buicks are blah'
'They had the chance to bring back the Grand National in a modern design and slightly boxy like a Cadillac. They totally missed it'
And that last comment really hits at the heart of this whole situation with Buick.
The brand sells four crossovers. The Envista isn't even made in America. It rolls off the production line in South Korea.
The brand's average transaction price is lower than Chevrolet's. How it hasn't managed to parts-bin its way to a genuine halo model at this point is sincerely baffling.
This new ad starts out great, sounds even better, and then backpedals its way into the end-zone and out of bounds.
Buick's latest Super Bowl ad showcases the brand's struggles in creating a compelling narrative that resonates with car enthusiasts. The juxtaposition of the iconic GNX with the unremarkable Envista highlights Buick's inability to create a cohesive identity that appeals to performance-oriented buyers.
