Buick Wildcat EV Concept

The Buick Wildcat EV stands alone as a sleek and streamlined concept, although the vehicle is intended to reveal the future direction for the style of Buick as we head deeper into a world soon to be dominated by electric vehicles.

The Buick ‘Wildcat’ EV concept gets its name from the high performance Wildcat Buick which was in production from 1963 to 1970 which itself took it’s name from concept cars unveiled in the 1950’s.

Inspirational Wildcat EV Design

Imagine painting it pink—it could easily pass for a car straight out of Thunderbirds. This oversized beauty, with its sweeping curves and agile stance, boasts sleek lines that subtly converge towards a fastback-style rear.

The design masterfully blends elements reminiscent of both Audi and Porsche, creating a striking fusion of elegance and performance giving a sense of movement, making Buick’s 2+2 Wildcat EV coupé look like it’s always wanting to move forward as the angles of the front smooth out towards the its rear, a look much helped by the slightly wraparound windscreen.

It’s a bold statement from Buick, who say that the Wildcat EV is a ‘glimpse of where we’re going’ according to Global Buick Executive Director, Sharon Gauci.

New Tri-Shield Badge Design

This new horizon for Buick introduces a redesigned badge, a modern tri-shield company logo which looks like it lights up, you could say the stunning new design aptly illuminates a new future for Buick.

Rumour has it that the design team removed the new logo from their sketches before a boardroom presentation, logo redesigns are a notoriously hard sell and they did not want to take any attention away from a radical design as they were about to introduce the board to a new Wildcat.

To the design team’s horror, they only noticed during the presentation that one slide was missed when the GM president said, ‘wait, go back to that other slide…’, the rest as they say is history.

Wildcat EV Interior

The interior of Buick’s Wildcat EV is nothing short of beautiful, featuring sculpted white leather seats paired perfectly with a sleek, half-metal steering wheel and a matching dashboard, creating an atmosphere of modern sophistication and elegance.

To Be or Not To Be Just A Concept

While the 2+2 Wildcat EV coupé looks a bit space-age, its design ideals are set firmly in looking towards the immediate future.

Although from here it gets a little confusing; Buick will not be putting the wonderful looking Wildcat EV into production any time soon – the brand intends to stick firmly to its established SUV base, using the Wildcat’s concept as ‘design inspiration’.

I must admit, I am bitterly disappointed, whereas before, I would never have chosen any Buick EV over say a Tesla, Porsche, BMW, Audi or Jaguar EV, my name would have been one of the first on the waiting list for a Wildcat EV, and I would have driven it with pride.

The Wildcat EV is truly stunning, taking the Buick brand up a few notches, it would happily sit next to the likes of Ferrari or Lamborghini and not look out of place.

That’s why it feels like just when Buick are on the verge of a breakthrough, they want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and deprive themselves from the fruits of their labour after having achieved a perfect marriage between heritage and a new future, a fine balance that their competitors are still striving for.

It does make me wonder why, if Buick were never planning to manufacture the Wildcat 2+2 EV, they did not choose to highlight the company’s next steps with a more relevant SUV concept rather than a sports car – unless they’re still possibly keeping a few ideas behind closed doors. I hope so.

All is not lost though, as when the Buick Electra SUV EV is revealed to us – likely to be in 2024 – it will lean heavily on many of the design aspects of the Wildcat EV. ‘Electra’ will be a range of vehicles rather than just a single model, and initially at least, sit on a base of the Cadillac Lyriq EV.

The Buick Wildcat EV partly formed itself through the design process; it became a sports car as the design team liked the way it was shaping up while creating the concept.

The Buick design team had started out with the plan to make an electric vehicle concept that didn’t look faceless and had some character, with the Wildcat concept car’s sweeping lines, and narrow blended headlight structure, all seemingly developing from the sharp-lined tight knit grille design.

The Wildcat 2 + 2 EV is beautifully and thoughtfully designed.

So, what do we learn from the Buick Wildcat EV concept reveal? Well mostly that Buick has a great design department and should maybe not completely close the door on expanding beyond the company’s more regular SUV base.

While the Electra EV will reveal more about Buick’s new direction, it is possible that the Wildcat EV coupé might have more of an influence on future proceedings than Buick is letting on.