(EXPANDED FROM 12/15/2023)
I don’t think one can fully understand why the 1963-65 Buick Riviera wasn’t as successful as commonly argued in automotive histories without considering its relationship to the Electra 225. So let’s do a quick data dive.
One thing to keep in mind is that even though Buick was generally considered the second-most-expensive brand in General Motors’ hierarchy of passenger cars during the postwar era, its high-end models represented only around 12 percent of sales through most of the 1950s. Buick was able to edge out Plymouth for third place in 1955 and 1956 in total output primarily on the strength of its entry-level Special models.
Even in the banner year of 1955, when Buick surpassed 737,000 units, the top-end Roadmaster series tallied under 65,000 units. And once a recession hit in 1958, the Roadmaster and a revived Limited series together garnered under 22,000 units. That represented only 9 percent of Buick’s dramatically lower total production, which fell to under 242,000 units.
Buick’s collapse was even more spectacular than that of the premium-priced field as a whole, which crashed from almost 3 million units in 1955 to 1.2 million in 1958. However, there was one unexpected bright spot: Ford’s new four-seater Thunderbird almost hit 38,000 units.
Buick hit reset button but was slow to catch T-Bird
In desperation, Buick gave its entire lineup name changes for 1959. High-end models were now called the Electra in base and 225 trim levels. Perhaps partly because of a price cut, output tripled.
Even so, the Thunderbird would continue to outsell the Electra through 1964. For example, in 1960 Ford’s personal coupe almost reached 93,000 units. That was well above the Electra’s roughly 55,000 units.
Then, in 1964 the Thunderbird came close to matching its 1960 record whereas the Electra garnered under 69,000 units. Only in 1965 would the restyled Electra rise to roughly 87,000 units whereas the T-Bird fell to under 75,000 units.
In contrast, the first-generation Riviera started off in 1963 at 40,000 units but gradually sunk to under 35,000 by 1965. The second generation only did modestly better, peaking at almost 53,000 in 1969 — which was the only year it ever outsold the Thunderbird.
Electra took up increasingly large share of Buick sales
The Electra would prove to be a significantly more successful nameplate than the Roadmaster. Even in the relatively bad years of 1959-61 the Electra took up around 20 percent of Buick’s total output.
Electra production bottomed out at under 48,000 units in 1961 but in eight years would more than triple. In 1969 the Electra made up almost 24 percent of the brand’s total output. That was despite Buick expanding its lineup with the smaller Special/Skylark as well as the Riviera personal coupe.
In the first half of the 1960s, the Electra’s output tracked fairly closely with that of Oldsmobile’s Ninety-Eight. However, from 1966 onward the Buick became the clear sales leader among high-end, premium-priced nameplates. Production peaked in 1969 at roughly 159,000 units, which was well above the Ninety-Eight’s 116,000 units and the expanded Mercury Marquis lineup’s 107,000 units.
During the same time period when Electra sales were soaring, the Riviera’s only inched upward. The result was that even at its peak in 1969, the Riviera’s output was roughly a third of the Electra’s.
GM had less motivation to invest in personal coupes
One of the richest ironies of the 1950s is that Ford did a far better job of challenging General Motors’ dominance of the top-end of the premium-priced class with the four-seat Thunderbird than launching the Edsel or moving Mercury upmarket. But even though the T-Bird outsold the Electra for a few years, it was still eclipsed by the Electra and the Ninety-Eight together.
This may go a ways toward explaining why GM was slow to come out with a Thunderbird competitor — and was half-hearted when it did. I could see the bean counters resist spending extra money on a niche product when GM was already generating enviable profits from the Electra and Ninety-Eight. After all, unlike the T-Bird they shared most of their sheetmetal with high-volume family cars.
By the same token, GM’s decision to get rid of a distinct body for the 1971 Riviera and corporate siblings may have been influenced by their mediocre sales in comparison to those of the Electra and Ninety-Eight.
As the 1960s wore on, customers in this price class seemed to increasingly gravitate to four-door models rather than personal coupes. Ford responded to that trend by giving the T-Bird a four-door “landau” body style in 1967, but it peaked at a relatively modest 25,000 units per year. Was the car too small or were there other drawbacks that hurt sales?
The popularity of the Electra would prove short-lived because of an oil embargo in 1973-74, which tanked sales of big, gas-guzzling cars. However, what happened next is a story for another time.
NOTES:
Production and market share figures are calculated from data by the Auto editors of Consumer Guide (1993, 2006), Flory (2004, 2009, 2013), Gunnell (2002), and Flammang and Kowalke (1999).
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 2006. Encyclopedia of American Cars. Publications International, Lincolnwood, Ill.
- Flammang, James M. and Ron Kowalke; 1999. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1976-1999. Third Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
- Flory, J. “Kelly” Jr.; 2004. American Cars, 1960-1972. McFarland & Co., Inc.
- ——; 2009. American Cars, 1946-1959: Every Model, Year by Year. McFarland & Co.
- ——; 2013. American Cars, 1973-1980. McFarland & Co., Inc.
- Gunnell, John; 2002. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975. Revised 4th Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- oldcaradvertising.com: Buick (1967)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Buick (1958, 1960, 1969, 1973)
Steve, as I’m sure you know, one of the major reasons for the Lincoln Mark III’s success was because it was made in the Wixom, MI plant, on the same assembly line as the T-Bird and the 4 door variants of the Lincoln & T-Bird, keeping build costs down. I don’t think GM had that economy of scale for the Eldorado/Toronado/Riviera.
Bill, the paragraph in question includes a link to a story about the 1971-78 Cadillac Eldorado. To reduce costs, for 1971 GM shifted its triumvirate of luxury personal coupes to a modified version of GM’s big car body. In addition, the Eldorado received far fewer updates than the Mark series during that time period.
GM wasn’t willing to invest the resources that Ford was in that market. My guess is that this was at least partly because the regular Cadillac sold so well — quite the opposite of the regular Lincoln.
I am struggling to see how the Electra sales volume would have a correlation to the Riviera. I see the two model lines as very different and appealing to different customers.
As for Buick and Oldsmobile versus Cadillac, there was a stigma with a Cadillac while the others were not as uppity. Story on the creation of Home Depot had one of the founders meeting with Perot for backing. Founding denied because he was driving a Cadillac, his company car from prior company. Perot took issue with that and made a point of his EDS people drove Buicks.
I’m not understanding your use of the word “correlation.” My basic premise, which shows up in this and other stories, is that Ford spent an enormous amount of money in the late-50s trying to break GM’s dominance of the upper premium-price bracket with the Edsel and Mercury — and failed spectacularly. Meanwhile, a parenthetical effort — the four-seater Thunderbird — was wildly successful. This challenged the groupthink that playing follow the leader was the best strategy.
GM’s lineup had been built around a hierarchy of brands, whereby it could generate strong profits by offering an Electra and Ninety-Eight that used lots of the same components as lower-priced GM cars. The Thunderbird undercut that strategy in a variety of ways, such as by sporting a fairly unique body and challenging the assumption that more expensive cars were supposed to be bigger.
The first-generation Riviera was GM’s half-hearted attempt to respond to the Thunderbird without spending nearly as much to do so, e.g., by heavily basing the car on the big Buick. That the Riviera wasn’t nearly as successful as the T-Bird may have been intentional. GM’s bean counters may not have wanted to go whole hog with personal coupes when the automaker was already dominating the upper-premium price bracket with much better economies of scale than the Thunderbird could achieve.
As the 1960s progressed, the US automotive market balkanized as automakers were increasingly inclined to engage in product proliferation. So, yes, a late-60s Electra appealed to a somewhat different buyer than a Riviera even though they were similarly priced. However, there was some overlap. Ford marketed the four-door Thunderbird as a more reasonably sized alternative to an Electra and Ninety-Eight.
By now, most of us know that Ford and General Motors have long competed side by side. The idea here is to produce a product that everyone will want to own. Designing a new car model is not only expensive, but also a gamble as they don’t always know the outcome or whether sales are going to exceed their expectations. Take for example, the Ford Edsel: They were introduced in 1958 but only lasted three years! Sales were so poor that Ford Motor Company ended production in 1960. But with the Ford Mustang, it was a different story. The new Mustang set sales records and was one of Fords most popular cars. That’s the way it is in the automobile industry! Happy Motoring
Buick all in all enjoyed a fabulous career over its many decades as a GM jewel. Buick practically created GM . It was a solid middle priced car for middle America – exactly the kind of car GM wanted and needed. When the 1930’s opened – Buick rolled with the times – strengthening its image and mythology in its price class. A high point was the Buick Century – a ”downsized Buick ” with great performance and style to match. The 1950′ s brought its Iconic style the Skylark – and various luxury sedans. In about 1955 the brochure stated that Buick goes far beyond conventions as a luxury car – in looks certainly – Cadillac mustve been listening. Then Buick became synonomous with all that was wrong with American car design. The late 1960s saw Buick reclaim its heritage as a premiere car. The 1970’s revealed the Buick genious for sheer style. The Electra of 1971 – 76 had very 1950’s style body detailing and actually sported small fins – incredible as that seems. Many Electra 225 Coupes were outfitted as the notorious ” Pimp car” and the brochures eluded to it. Today Buick is back in play as BUICK with all that the name implies. The new 2025 Enclave is a glorious vehicle as are the smaller but popular models.I envision!! the modern Buick as a car that Pierce – Arrow might have become had it survived the depression. They apparently serve the same customer base – in many respects