America’s thirst for vulture capitalism is yet to reach the shores of Buick or that of its parent company General Motors. Although the 2008 banking crisis nearly put GM into a coma, government came to the rescue with taxpayer-funded bailouts. After the bailout mist subsided it was very much business as per usual for General Motors and its Buick brand. For Buick to have survived 123 years of onslaughts and ills of corporate America is a story worth celebrating.

What isn’t worth celebrating is Buick’s current product lineup. It’s bland. Not Toyota levels of blandness, but armchair bland. The Buick brand comes across as comfortable and family-friendly, it is a fireside chat and a mug of hot chocolate before you fall asleep and then repeat the whole experience again the very next day.

With this in mind GM Designer Namwoo Kim decided enough is enough and put digital pen to tablet to inject some much-needed conceptual escapism. Appealing to buyer preferences, Buick’s current lineup is SUV-dominant. But as I mentioned, Buick’s SUV design language is bland.

Namwoo’s concept has no bearing on future expectations, it’s merely designed to create future inspiration. Perhaps the Namwoo concept introduces a few design elements of Buick’s first all-electric vehicle which arrives in 2024. So one can guess the all-electric Buick will be an SUV. But less concepty.