Buick Says Century Competes with Toyota's Camry on More than Price

09/13/96

Detroit Free Press reports that executives at GM's Buick division have been surprised when customers who bought a Buick Century sedan said their alternative choice would have been a Toyota Camry.

The executives were taken a bit aback, however, when those same Buick buyers said that the reason they picked the Century over the Camry was because they couldn't afford the Toyota.

Nonetheless, Anthony Derhake, Century's brand manager, says the redesigned 1997 Century will be able to steal prospective Camry buyers from Toyota for more reasons than just the cars' price tags: "I think we beat them on ride, interior space and quietness," he said. Derhake's job is to determine the most likely customer for the Buick and to figure out how to best bring the car to market.

The current Century--a car that Buick has been building for 15 years--has good initial quality rankings, with only 97 problems for every 100 cars in this year's J.D. Power and Associates study of quality after 90 days of ownership.

The 1997 Century will cost more than this year's model, although Derhake declined to tell how much; the 1996 Century has sold at big discounts because of its age. Derhake revealed only that the Century Custom--which has accounted for 75-80 percent of Century sales--will cost less than $20,000. The Century Limited is expected to cost more than $20,000.

Derhake said that Buick will reconsider the price tag it was going to hang on the Century, since Toyota cut Camry prices by an average of $899 per car on its new models.

The Century's success will be measured largely on how well it competes with other midsize mainstays like the Honda Accord and Ford Taurus. The Century's advantage is a customer base of 1.7 million owners, more than half of whom have already bought more than one Century.

The new Century should hit Buick showrooms in early January, providing GM's bargaining talks with the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) proceed without a labor stoppage. The CAW has threatened to strike GM this fall if the corporation refuses to sign a contract that acknowledges and compensates workers' needs for better job security. The Century is built at the Oshawa No. 2 assembly plant.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel