Quebedeaux GMC is now Tucson's second Buick dealer, dealership President Tom Quebedeaux confirmed Wednesday.
Quebedeaux had long been Tucson's best-known Pontiac dealer, but when General Motors killed off that division last year, Quebedeaux, at 3566 E. Speedway, was left with only a dwindling Pontiac inventory, GMC's SUV and truck line, and used vehicles.
It was expected that GM would award a Buick franchise to Quebedeaux after the manufacturer ended nearby Royal Buick's franchise amid GM's tumultuous corporate bankruptcy in 2009. After dumping thousands of franchises nationwide, GM officials said the GMC and Buick marques would be paired under the same roofs in the remaining dealerships; Chevrolet and Cadillac are the entry-level and luxury bookends for GM's slimmed down, post-bankruptcy structure.
Quebedeaux said the dealership has sold all of its remaining Pontiacs. But he said the dealership would continue to provide warranty work and service for Pontiacs well into the future.
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Royal Automotive Group, which operated Royal Buick at 4333 E. Speedway for many years until losing that franchise several months ago, recently was granted new Buick and GMC franchises, but at the Tucson Auto Mall, where it bought the former Don Mackey Cadillac dealership.
Quebedeaux said he expects his dealership's first Buicks - a load of LaCrosse models - to arrive today or Friday.
The Buick lineup also includes the Enclave SUV and the full-sized Lucerne.
A slightly smaller car in the new Buick lineup, the midsized 2011 Buick Regal, is expected to begin showing up at dealerships in early summer, Buick spokeswoman Dayna Hart said. She said Regal is based on the European Opel Insignia and will be built, for the first year, at GM's Russelsheim, Germany, plant. Production will move to a GM plant in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, in early 2011, Hart said.
"We sold our first (Buick) LaCrosse before it even got here," Quebedeaux said. "We took the order (Tuesday) - a longtime Buick customer trading in his '07 for a LaCrosse."
Quebedeaux said he looks forward to Buick coming out with a smaller, entry-level car.
"We'd love to have something around $12,000 to $14,000 MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price)," Quebedeaux said. But he said there is nothing of that type in the Buick lineup, at least so far.
Quebedeaux said he doesn't think the public will hold the GM bankruptcy or the taking of federal "bailout" funds against the company.
He said Buick has had very high ratings in the JD Powers customer-satisfaction ratings - "way up there, even above Pontiac. The public cares about the product they drive. My point is the public is not going to not buy a nice product because the manufacturer had financial problems. GM has always stood behind the warranty, good times or bad times."
Temporary Buick signs have been put up over the old Pontiac signs, and the dealership has entered a remodeling process that GM wants, to bring some uniformity of look to Buick dealerships.
"There's a Buick look, a gray or silver and black," Quebedeaux said. He said the remodeling and branding project could take up to a year and a half.
He said GM is using a consultant to help the dealerships with a branding plan, including a Buick entrance arch, uniform signs and some modifications to the showroom, including moving the customer greeting area toward the middle of the showroom.
"I think going from eight brands to four, they'll be able to concentrate better on the four," Quebedeaux said of GM.
He said auto credit is loosening and business is looking up, but he doesn't expect the auto business to ever be the same as it was in the boom years before the recession.
"In the car business, it was just rockin' and rollin'. Just open the doors. Everyone did very well. Very well in the future might not equate" with pre-recession times, he said.
Contact reporter Dan Sorenson at 573-4185 or dsorenson@azstarnet.com