The Enronesque experience of General Motors has been a common topic on this blog, but you know it’s gotten bad for the automaker when even Tiger Woods’s endorsement appeal cannot bolster one of the company’s brands. This John O’Dell/LA Times article reports about the slide into oblivion of GM’s Buick brand:

Buick was the seed from which General Motors Corp. sprouted. And for generations, the luxury car line was one of GM’s most bountiful divisions.
The Buick brand filled a crucial niche for the auto giant, attracting well-heeled consumers who wanted more than an Oldsmobile but weren’t comfortable with the flash of a Cadillac.
Now as GM faces the threat of bankruptcy, Buick has emerged as an emblem of the auto giant’s broader woes. GM sold nearly a million Buicks in the U.S. in 1984. By last year, sales had sputtered to 282,288, a 70% decline over two decades, the biggest of any major auto brand.
Buick has broken down in U.S. showrooms for the same reasons that Americans deserted GM brands such as Chevrolet, Pontiac and Olds in favor of Toyota, Honda and Nissan. [. . .] Even using golf superstar Tiger Woods as pitchman hasn’t helped Buick. [. . .]

Last year, Lexus ó the luxury division of Toyota Motor Corp. ó gave Buick the final push off its perch, outselling it for the first time. [. . .]
Since 1999, Buick has used Tiger Woods, whose name and face are known globally. But the golf tournaments that carry Woods’ endorsements don’t reach out to young buyers because they are largely watched by older men, some of whom might already gravitate to Buicks.
“While you can sell a hot car designed for younger buyers to an old guy, you can’t sell a stodgy old car to a young guy,” said Bill Porter, Buick’s design chief from 1980 until 1996. “The average Buick buyer is 69, the oldest demographic in the industry, and there aren’t many new buyers coming in to replace them,” said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific market research in Tustin. [. . .]
GM’s goal for Buick shows how far the once mighty has fallen: Company officials say they’re now aiming to become the American Lexus.

Read the entire article. Although soaring labor, pension and health care costs are certainly important factors in GM’s demise, the decline of the Buick brand is a case study in the lack of creativity that is at the core of GM’s problems. That will be even more difficult to solve than the company’s financial problems.