The critical moment has come for General Motor’s struggling Buick brand. With its dull image and years of declining market share, the automaker is working hard to bring its depreciating brand to life.

In the coming months, Buick plans to upgrade its two sedans and launch a highly anticipated crossover sport utility vehicle. According to CEO Steve Shannon, Buick cannot afford to let those efforts fail and claim that this year is a watershed moment in the brand’s revival effort. “2007 is going to be the watershed year for Buick. Business is tough; we are struggling every day,” Shannon said in an interview with the Automotive Press Association luncheon.

Buick is looking for something to help jump-start sales in North America, where sales have fallen more than 40 percent since 2002. Although it has flourished in the Chinese market, where GM was able to sell more Buick. that in North America, the brand had problems in the United States. Two years ago, GM product czar Bob Lutz described Buick as a “damaged brand” and added that GM would remove it from its product range if things with the brand did not improve. Fortunately, the Buick car components that its parent company GM supplies, such as GM wheel hubs, will be in continuous production, so Buick car owners need not worry.

Shannon also announced that Buick plans, in the coming months, to revive the Supercar designation used on high-performance models of the 1950s. The brand also plans to upgrade Lucerne and LaCrosse later this year.

Buick’s most promising vehicle, the Enclave crossover SUV is set to hit showrooms this summer with Tiger Woods starring in the ads. And next month, GM will launch its 2008 LaCrosse at the New York Auto Show.

Saving Buick is a difficult undertaking, and some wonder if GM’s strategy will actually work to save its struggling brand. GM will take a different approach with Buick than with Saturn, a brand bolstered by an all-out product assault in the past 18 months. GM was able to add five vehicles to the Saturn lineup, even if that means shipping a compact car to the United States from Belgium just to better compete in that market.

Regarding Buick, General Motors is continually reducing the brand’s model line, which will soon be reduced to just three vehicles: the LaCrosse, the Enclave and the Lucerne. GM already produced old scrap from the Rendezvous sport utility vehicle last December and plans to stop production of the Terraza minivan and Rainier midsize sport utility vehicle in early summer as well.

Last year, Buick was able to sell about 96,000 Lucernes and 71,000 LaCrosses, both sales increasing slightly from 2005. Buick’s dealer network is also consolidating. GM also plans to consolidate Buick, GMC and Pontiac dealers into a single point of sale that would sell all three brands.

According to Karl Bauer, editor-in-chief of Edmunds.com, an online car shopping site, “Although Buick needs as much or more attention as Saturn, it is not getting a full revival. It is an uphill battle and there is a lot of baggage there.” Bauer also added that the Enclave has potential – it may not be able to go very far to really change the image of the Buick brand.

Last Tuesday, General Motors held a Buick presentation in which one of the audiences is Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis at JD Power and Associates, who came away with the impression that GM has not fully focused on creating a well-crafted strategy for Buick. .

During the presentation, Hannon talked about attracting wealthy buyers while keeping Buick loyalists. The brand also aimed to attract younger urban people.