Buick has once again filed to trademark the storied Electra name, and we think it's obvious where it will go: On its new full-size sedan, which is powered by an all-new 850-horsepower 16-cylinder Roots-blown diesel engine. Kidding! Kidding—about the sedan and engine parts.
Buick most recently used the Electra name on the space-capsule-inspired electric SUV concept you see above, introduced at the 2020 Shanghai motor show. Having kept the Electra name on ice for over thirty years, using it on a production electric vehicle seems like a no-brainer. The only questions are when and if—specifically, if such a car would come to the U.S. or be exclusive to China, where Buick remains a popular brand.We hope it comes here, only because we'd love to see this legendary nameplate return to American roads. (We reached out to Buick; a spokesperson reiterated that the brand is part of GM's zero-emissions vision but has no future product announcements to share right now.)
Buick last sold an Electra in 1990, but the name has a deep history. Back in 1959, the Electra and Electra 225 replaced the Super and Roadmaster as Buick's top-of-the-line models. These were the days when a man was judged by the size of his car, and the Electra 225's name denoted its massive 225.4" length—that's just over 18 feet 9 inches, same as a modern-day Chevrolet Suburban.
The "Deuce and a Quarter" would reign as the big Buick throughout the Malaise era; it and the Oldsmobile 98 were the only GM cars allowed to share the C-body with contemporary Cadillacs. Power for these 10-mpg behemoths ranged from Buick's 401-cubic-inch (6.6-liter) Nailhead V-8 up to the muscle-car 455 (7.5L) V-8, though by the mid-70s the Electra could also be had with a wee little 350 (5.7L) engine. Oh, and 225 inches was only the beginning: In 1975, thanks to the Federal mandate for 5 mph bumpers, the Electra would grow to 233.4"—that's nearly nineteen-and-a-half feet of Buick, making it the longest car ever produced by the brand.
GM downsized its big cars in 1977, but the Buick Electra (along with the Cadillac DeVille and Olds 98) stuck to the slightly-larger C-body, which still stood a massive 222" long (though Buick dropped "225" from the name in 1980). In 1985, the Electra switched to front-wheel-drive, once again sharing the C-body platform with Cadillac and the Olds 98. The top-line version was called the Electra Park Avenue, and when the C-body was stretched and redesigned for 1991, the car was renamed Park Avenue.
The Electra name was also used on big rear-drive Estate Wagons from 1985 until 1990. Ironically, when the wagons were redesigned into big bulbous form in 1991, the Electra name was dropped in favor of Roadmaster—the very label Electra replaced back in '59.
We're not surprised Buick has held onto the Electra name; it seems a no-brainer in these Electra-fied days, and frankly we're a bit surprised some other GM division hasn't pinched the name for one of its own cars. Still, the concept certainly looks producible—the doors (butterfly-hinged in front, scissor-hinged in the back) might be a step too far, but we could see a Buick SUV sharing its platform with the 2023 Cadillac Lyriq. (Actually, basing an Electra on the Lyric would make great poetic sense, given the Electra's history as a dressed-down Cadillac DeVille.)
There's not much going on at Buick that makes our toes tingle, but the thought of an electric Electra seems pretty cool to us—and the bigger it is, the better.
