While at NAIAS last week, we had an up-close look at the Chinese studio-designed Buick Riviera concept.

While many Chinese-developed vehicles were in the downstairs area of COBO (aka the “basement”) and were at times unbearable, this vehicle was quite the opposite: beautiful design, and pure Buick. The exterior lines all worked together nicely, accentuating only the bare minimals of the side profile with a crisp rear “haunch” fender flare and a front shoulder line that tails off towards the rear.

The front fascia has quite a bit of Lexus influence, especially in the floating headlamps that nearly reach all the way back to the side mirrors. The rear end keeps it clean and simple by utilizing some simple graphic lines to break up the space. The lines and forms wrap from the back onto the sides and down into the rear fenders, creating a pseudo-boat tail appearance. We will probably be seeing more of this styling in future Buick concepts.

The interior continues the crisp flowing lines and delivers a fairly traditional concept. However, the selling point isn’t necessarily the design, but the execution. The craftsmanship is extremely well-done, and appears light-years beyond anything else we see coming out of China thus far (and is on par, or better than, what we see out of many Korean vehicles).

The vehicle is a statement that Chinese design is coming on very strong, and under proper guidance will become quite a force to reckon with.

Have a lookee at our NEW gallery for the photos.

Gallery