Posted on: Nov 26, 2012 | 20,888 reads

Buick to Revive the Grand National?

The Great American Road once belonged to Buick, and may yet once more.

If you were excited by the classic Buick Grand National we featured yesterday, we've got some good news. According to Inside Line, General Motors is preparing to bring back not only the Grand National, but also the T-Type and GNX. Celebrated by enthusiasts in the 1980s, these Buicks were some of the most powerful cars on the market. Their successors could stand to pick up where they left off. The basis for these new Buicks is reportedly the new Cadillac ATS, whose rear-drive platform GM is apparently keen to make use of.

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Citing an unnamed "reliable" source, Inside Line projects that the T-Type and Grand National would share most of their mechanical bits, potentially to center around a new twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter V6 with between 350 and 400 horsepower. The difference between them, if the past is anything to go by, would be that the Grand National would be offered only in black, while the T-Type would offer a more complete color range. The GNX, however, would be another story altogether. While the turbo T-Type and Grand National would be enticing enough for some, the GNX could stand to get a proper V8.

Apparently the ATS platform was engineered to accommodate a small-block, tipped to power a new ATS-V performance model. GM could give the GNX a lower output in order to position it below the Cadillac, but a rear-drive Buick with turbo six or V8 power could be just what the proverbial doctor ordered to give the brand a boost of excitement. The original GNX was ushered into production by Lloyd Reuss, executive VP of GM North America in the 80s. His son Mark is now president of the same division, and just happens to own a 1987 Buick 547 GNX himself. That's reason enough for us, and we could be looking towards its debut at Detroit 2014.