WARREN, MI: For a couple of years now, General Motors has been promising us "crossover" vehicles that would blur the line between sedans, minivans, and sport-utility vehicles, and now here comes the 2002 Buick Rendezvous to do exactly that.
Buick unveiled the Rendezvous at the Chicago auto show this week, but a few days before that the key people behind the program explained to a few automotive journalists here at GM's tech center what they did in creating it, and why.
Essentially, Buick did it to keep up with the public swing toward more pragmatic vehicles, yet they hope its design will actually put them ahead of the product curve in meeting that demand when it comes on the market in about a year.
Roger Adams, Buick's general manager, said Buick was ideally suited to do this. "Our research shows that the Boomer and Generation X groups, who tend to buy SUVs and other trucks, acknowledge there's plenty of quality behind the Buick marque. So the opportunity is there to transfer what a variety of customers like about a Buick to a premium vehicle built according to a completely new formula -- highly functional, enjoyable to drive, and very luxurious."
Of those three attributes, the one that jumps out at the viewer first is versatility. "With our reconfigurable interior," said Adams, "we believe this is the most versatile vehicle in the utility market."
To make Rendezvous versatile, Buick has made an optional third row of seats for what is traditionally the cargo space, which allows it to seat up to seven adults in a vehicle class that normally only accommodates five.