The Buick Regal has been Buick’s premium mid-size car since 1973. It began as a personal luxury coupe on GM’s A-body, became the basis of the Grand National and GNX, and from 2011 was a rebadged Opel Insignia.
Buick Regal at a glance
| Maker | Buick, General Motors |
|---|---|
| Production | since 1973 |
| Class | mid-size car |
| First generation | 1973–1977, Century Regal |
| Own model | from 1976 |
| First engine | Buick 350 V8, 455 optional |
| From 1975 | 231 cu in (3.8 L) V6 standard |
| Bodies | coupe, sedan, liftback, wagon, TourX estate |
| Related performance cars | Grand National, Gran Sport, GNX |
| China | introduced in 1999 by SAIC-GM |
| North America 2011 | rebadged Opel Insignia |
| North American sales ended | after 2020 |
Based on one source, the English Wikipedia article on the Regal.
History of the Buick Regal
For 1973 GM introduced the Colonnade generation of its A-body intermediates, with reinforced roof pillars replacing true hardtops. Buick dropped the Skylark name from that range and brought back Century, and it added a personal coupe called the Century Regal Colonnade Hardtop, which took the name of the larger Riviera’s trim. The Regal had its own grille and tail lamps and a notchback roof shared with the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and Pontiac Grand Prix.
The Regal came as the flagship of Buick’s intermediate line, with woodgrain trim on the dashboard and doors, door-pull straps and bench seats with folding centre armrests in cloth, velour or vinyl. A four-door sedan joined it for 1974, and for 1976 the Regal became a separate model above the Century. A Regal S/R coupe of 1976–77 offered reclining bucket seats in corduroy.
The standard engine for 1973 and 1974 was Buick’s 350-cubic-inch V8, with the 455 optional; the 455 was dropped for 1975, when the 231-cubic-inch (3.8-litre) V6 became standard. That engine had been designed by Buick for its early-1960s compacts, sold to Kaiser in 1967 for Jeep, and bought back by GM in 1974. For 1975 and 1976 the Century and Regal were the only mid-size American cars offering a V6. More than 500,000 Regal coupes of this generation were sold.
A downsized Regal arrived for 1978 with Buick’s new 3.2-litre V6, and the turbocharged 3.8-litre V6 of the second generation made the Regal a motorsport presence. The car served as the basis of the Grand National, the Gran Sport and the GNX coupes.
In 1999 General Motors began selling cars in China through SAIC-GM with the Regal as its first model. Buick retired the Regal in North America after 2004, when the LaCrosse replaced both the Regal and the Century; it then built a second-generation Regal for China from 2008 and brought the model back to North America for 2011 as a rebadged Opel Insignia, positioned just below the LaCrosse. The sixth generation of 2018 came entirely from Germany, and GM’s sale of Opel to PSA ended North American sales after 2020, though the Insignia-based Regal is still built by SAIC-GM.
Design and features
- Colonnade origins: a personal luxury coupe with opera windows.
- Turbo V6: the engine most associated with the Regal and its Grand National.
- Performance spin-offs: Grand National, Gran Sport and GNX.
- Global generations: an Opel Insignia in America from 2011.
Buick Regal versions
- Century Regal (1973–75): the original personal coupe.
- Regal (1976–77): a separate model line, with the S/R coupe.
- Second generation (1978–): downsized, with turbocharged V6 engines.
- North American 2011–20: rebadged Opel Insignia, including the TourX estate.
The Regal shared its generation with the Century and inspired the Gran Sport; it was replaced in North America by the LaCrosse. More Buicks are in the Buick collection.
Sources
- Buick Regal, English Wikipedia: origins, first generation, engines, later generations
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