LAGUNA BEACH, CA: General Motors has been talking about the need to build more low-volume vehicles for high-concept tastes, and that describes perfectly what Buick is likely to accomplish with the Regal Cielo.
After all, there are no other 4-door sedans with a roof and a rear window that retract into the trunk to leave a convertible hardtop behind.
But that's what the Regal Cielo (see-A-low) does, and while it may not be for everyone or even that many people, it will certainly fill a niche.
In the bigger scheme of things, the fact that Buick and GM are getting into the niche-filling business with a car like the Regal Cielo is definitely the big story. Normally, niche-filling is left to smaller companies scrambling to squeeze out a few more sales while the world's biggest car company sales along on mass market models.
Should Buick go ahead with the Cielo, as it seems it will in a year or so, that should signal the start of a wave of nichey products off of GM's mass market models and that's an extremely interesting proposition.
As for the Regal Cielo itself, it's not hard to see that it might be appealing to a certain number of people.
When you're sitting up front, it feels like nothing more than a 4-door sedan with a sunroof, until you look in the mirror and discover the roof and rear window are gone. This does wonderful things for your rear vision, but little else.