A recent trademark filing hints that General Motors will keep the sporty Buick GS badge for future electric cars.
GM on Oct. 4 filed a trademark application for the Electra GS name, combining the GS badge with the Electra nameplate the automaker previously said would be used for upcoming Buick EVs.
Short for Gran Sport, the GS badge dates back to 1965. It was used on various Buick muscle cars, but outlasted the muscle-car era and was used periodically in the following decades, including an early 2000s Regal GS with a manual transmission. The last production model to get the GS badge was a version of the Buick Regal Sportback that debuted for the 2018 model year.
2018 Buick Regal GS
GM in June confirmed that future Buick EVs will get Electra badging, which, along with a new logo, is part of an attempt to remake the brand for the EV era. The automaker said these EVs will also use an alphanumeric suffix to denote size and body style, leaving room for the GS badge to be tacked on to denote sportier variants.
GM has also indicated that it's willing to buy out Buick dealers that don't want to make the EV transition, which will include significant investments for charging hardware. The automaker has also offered buyouts to Cadillac dealers, but not Chevrolet and GMC dealers.
While GM is laying the groundwork for Buick's EV shift now, the first production Buick EV for the U.S. isn't scheduled to go on sale until 2024, with an unveiling later this year. Most likely to be EV crossovers, the planned lineup of Buick EVs will use the same Ultium battery and motor architecture as other upcoming GM electric models.