Recent strong standings in a North American vehicle satisfaction survey and increasing popularity across China has led management at Buick to consider expanding its lineup. Buick has always remained a notch above its US-based rivals and now execs are pondering whether it could eventually rival the likes of Acura and Volvo.

"It was always a near-luxury premium car," GM marketing boss Mark La-Neve told reporters from Automotive News. According to La-Neve, current plans will see Buick’s new US lineup resemble its offering in China with the first car tipped to be a new entry-level sedan.

One thing’s for certain. Buick won’t get a large RWD sedan based on GM’s new Zeta architecture like Pontiac and its new G8. The proposal was apparently ditched by Buick’s own dealers who consider such a car to be too much competition for the existing Lucerne. Instead, Buick will get a new RWD V6 based on a mid-sized platform currently being developed by Holden engineers in Australia.