The Buick Bengal was a

concept A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, ...

roadster designed and built by

Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...

. It was first shown to the public at the 2001 North American International Auto Show in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

History

The Bengal was an attempt to rejuvenate the Buick line, and make it seem more appealing to younger people. It was powered by a supercharged 3.4L V6, which was mated to a six speed manual transmission. The transmission was mounted ahead of the engine, to allow a more forward placement of the front wheels to improve handling. Though a 2-seater roadster in general design, the rear decklid can be lifted to reveal two extra seats. One of the most desirable features of the Bengal is its voice activated controls. The car is able to distinguish over 100 commands given to it by voice, which can operate various things from the

headlight A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for t ...

windshield wiper A windscreen wiper (Commonwealth English) or windshield wiper (American English) is a device used to remove rain, snow, ice, washer fluid, water, or other debris from a vehicle's front window. Almost all motor vehicles, including cars, truc ...

s, and convertible top, to the heater, navigation system, seat adjustments, and cruise control. The system was named ''Quiet Servant'' and it was developed by

Visteon Visteon Corporation (VC) is an American global automotive electronics supplier based in Van Buren Township, Michigan. Visteon designs, engineers, and manufactures vehicle cockpit electronics products, connected car services and electrification p ...

Corporation. The dashboard is free of traditional gauges, everything instead is displayed on demand on a single flat panel screen. In 2001 Buick claimed they wanted to put the Bengal into production, but plans were shelved until 2004 when they revealed the

Velite ''Velites'' (; : ) were a class of infantry in the Roman army of the mid-Republic from 211 to 107 BC. ''Velites'' were light infantry and skirmishers armed with javelins (), each with a 75cm (30 inch) wooden shaft the diameter of a finger, with ...

concept, which is a more realistic roadster design.

References

{{Buick Vehicles

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

Cars introduced in 2001 Roadsters