Buick Gran Sport Could Return As Standalone High-Performance Model

Buick has filed a trademark for the name "Buick GS" at theMexican Institute of Industrial Property.CarBuzzdiscovered the trademark, the first time this particular designation has been filed for as a standalone model. And it will be a car, as the trademark was filed in Nice classification 12, specifically for "land motor vehicles, namely automobiles."

The GS badge has been used prior and has been trademarked previously in conjunction with other model names. Last year,CarBuzzdiscovered thetrademark for the Electra GS name, for example, and in recent history, there have been several models wearing the badge. The last vehicle to wear the GS badge was the Regal GS, which was killed off in 2020. Other famous examples include Riviera GS, Wildcat GS, and Century GS.

But "Buick GS" as a trademarked name suggests something entirely different, not a trim, but a standalone model wearing the GS name.

The GS or Gran Sport designation arrived in 1965 as an optional extra for the Skylark and Riviera. It was meant to signify performance, so Buick bolted a 6.6-liter "Nailhead" V8 under the hood. Buick's were already considered luxury cars, so all the American automaker needed to do was add power.

These days Buick is arguably more of a Chinese brand, but it is in the process of reinventing itself, a process that started with anall-new global identity. Shortly after, Buick unveiled the Wildcat electric concept and said it wanted to go all-electric by 2030. Buick even startedforcing its dealers to invest$300,000 to sell electric vehicles it hasn't launched yet.

The 2024Envisionand 2024 Envista Coupe are still very much combustion-powered, so what gives?

There's the Electra, which will come to the US, but so far, the electric Buick for Americans hasn't been shown.