The Buick car brand was almost tossed into the scrapheap of history when GM declared bankruptcy and was restructured with help from the U.S. government. Buick almost joined the other brands GM killed with badge engineering, until Fritz Henderson convinced the auto task force that it could be rebuilt, according to The Detroit News.

General Motors claims that Buick sales rose 76 percent last month and the LaCrosse gained 17 percent market share of the large car segment. The average age of a Buick buyer has also fallen to 65, which sounds high, but is an improvement over the 72-year-old average Detroit News claims the brand had several years ago.  Buick’s current lineup of cars is offering buyers what Buick has historically been known for: understated luxury.  A Buick buyer can have all the amenities that a Lexus or Cadillac offers, without the bling.

The 2010 Buick LaCrosse. Not pictured: acres of chrome.

The only dark spot in Buick’s lineup is the 2010 Lucerne. Sales of the large car are down 15.6 percent this year.

There are three basic types of young people when it comes to cars. The first type doesn’t care at all and will drive a beat-up Volvo wagon until someone convinces them to trade it in for a Civic or Corolla. The second type are luxury fans, who are being successfully courted by Buick. The third type are sports car fans, and not a single one of these people are stopping at a Buick dealership to check out what’s for sale.

The third type doesn’t always buy a sports car, but they do have a working knowledge of the Camaro vs Mustang vs Charger situation and can name all of Lamborghini’s cars over the past 20 years. Even though they don’t necessarily buy based on quarter mile times, they do pay attention to them. All Buick needs to do in order to bring back some mojo with sports car buyers is build a new version of the Grand National, Buick’s legendary sports car from the 1980s.

A new Grand National could serve as a platform for an efficient turbocharged V6 engine. The Grand National could compete with the Taurus SHO, if it were to be based on the new Buick Regal. Just like the SHO does for Ford, the New Buick Grand National could be a showcase for GM’s efficient, powerful new engines and not cut into sales of the Camaro.