This 2028 Buick GNX Is The Comeback America Deserves
Buick‘s spent nearly four decades without a proper successor to the 1987 GNX, which feels like an awfully long timeout for building one outrageously fast car. This 2028 Buick GNX imagines the name returning on a mid-engine hypercar built to harass Corvettes and outrageously-priced European machinery.
It swaps the Regal’s brick-like profile for carbon-heavy bodywork while preserving the black paint and fun intentions. Buick probably won’t build it, but that’s no reason the idea should be any less convincing.
The Original Buick GNX Was A Supercar Ambush
The 1987 Buick GNX arrived as the final and most out-there version of the turbocharged Grand National. Buick produced only 547 examples, all finished in black and fitted with numbered dashboard plaques. GNX stood for Grand National Experimental, though there was little uncertainty about its purpose. Buick wanted to send the rear-wheel-drive Regal out with a plume of tire smoke.
ASC and McLaren Engines helped turn the ordinary Grand National into something much less ordinary. The turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 received freer-flowing cylinder heads and a larger Garrett turbocharger. A more effective intercooler joined revised engine management, while a less restrictive exhaust helped the V6 breathe without needing to register a formal complaint.
Bristling With Power
Buick advertised 276 horsepower and 360 lb-ft of torque. Dyno testing at the time, however, suggested the GNX was making closer to 300 horsepower, which surprised absolutely nobody who had watched one disappear down a drag strip. The car also received a revised rear suspension, additional body bracing, and wider tires. Let’s not forget that turbocharged torque is only entertaining when some of it reaches the pavement.
The GNX hit 60 mph in 4.7 seconds and covered the quarter-mile in 13.5 seconds at 102 mph. That put a square Buick Regal within striking distance of the Porsche 911 Turbo. It also meant the GNX could show up wearing the visual equivalent of a black business suit and leave in a cloud of expensive embarrassment.
This 2028 Buick GNX Goes Mid-Engine
The 2028 Buick GNX abandons the Regal shape entirely, yet it understands the original car’s basic task (keep it black, and make it intimidating). The Buick tri-shield sits low on the nose between razor-thin headlights, while vertical LED elements frame a huge lower opening, giving the front end a look somewhere between modern hypercar and industrial meat slicer. GNX lettering appears inside the intake, which is a better place for it than on a giant rear wing or an illuminated puddle lamp, right?
Its proportions make the mid-engine layout hard to miss. The cabin sits well forward, while those huge side intakes and rear-deck louvers leave plenty of room behind the seats for the Corvette ZR1X’s 5.5-liter twin-turbo LT7 V8. That engine already makes 1,064 horsepower before the hybrid system joins the party, so Buick would hardly be starting with a grocery-getter.
Same Old Playbook
Borrow the ZR1X’s front electric motor as well, and this fictional GNX would have all-wheel drive and 1,250 horsepower straight from General Motors’s existing parts cupboard. The Chevrolet Corvette has already used that setup to reach 60 mph in 1.68 seconds under ideal drag-strip conditions. Buick could keep the hardware as-is, although a 2028 halo car wearing the GNX badge deserves a slightly, let’s say, brash tune. Call it 1,300 horsepower and let Chevrolet deal with any awkward internal meetings.
The rear view suddenly makes even more sense with that powertrain in mind. A light bar stretches across almost the entire width, while two rectangular exhaust outlets sit inside a carbon diffuser that looks ready to inhale loose road furniture. Whether Buick settles for the ZR1X’s 1,250 horsepower or nudges this GNX beyond 1,300, the original car’s basic trick would remain intact: take familiar GM hardware and use it to embarrass the life out of cars with legendary names.
The Hard Part Would Be Making It A Buick GNX
Dropping Corvette ZR1X hardware into the 2028 GNX would solve the horsepower problem before breakfast. The bigger challenge would be making the result feel like a GNX rather than a Corvette wearing a Buick badge and a very expensive suit. A rear-biased all-wheel-drive calibration would help, as would Buick-specific software that lets the car feel maniacal when you turn off the electronic nannies.
The chassis would need its own personality, too. This GNX looks wider and more substantial than the Corvette, so outright lightness may be less important than stability at stupid speeds. Active suspension could give it enough compliance for the highway, then clamp everything down when someone selects a driving mode inevitably called ‘Experimental’. Keep curb weight below 4,000 pounds and the performance figures should remain thoroughly awesome.
What Buick’s Not Had For Decades
Buick should also resist turning it into a stripped-out track toy. The original GNX was devastating because it delivered supercar pace from a car that still had Regal manners when nobody was leaning on the boost gauge. A modern version could follow that idea with a genuinely usable cabin and a ride that does not punish its owner for encountering pavement. Hypercar speed with Buick comfort would be a more interesting trick than chasing lap records alone.
Then comes the production plan. Buick could build 547 examples to match the 1987 GNX, give each one a numbered plaque, and charge somewhere around $300,000 before dealers discover creative math. That would keep it rarer than the average exotic while giving Buick something it’s lacked for decades: a halo car people would discuss without immediately changing the subject to crossovers.
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