2010 Buick Lacrosse

Even a quick glance at these shots of what Brenda Priddy's kept spy-man Chris Doane claims is the 2010 Buick LaCrosse, already tell us it's shaping up to look better than the current model. And by better we mean this Epsilon II-platformed Front-Wheel Drive mid-size looks more squashed and turtle-like than before. But maybe it'll work this time when combined with the cladding on the sides that seem to indicate the new LaCrosse will receive the same swoopy character line along the doors that's so helpful in providing the Enclave, its Lambda-platformed SUV brand-brother, such a distinctive look. In addition it appears the front grille's getting more of an upturned mouth with the corners growing more taught at the tips. That'll be perfect to complement what looks like much larger gills it can use to breathe through. Full spy report from Chris Doane / Brenda Priddy below the jump.

These are the very first pictures of the 2010 Buick LaCrosse, and trust me – these were not easy to catch! Although these were caught in public areas, General Motors had two security guards for round-the-clock coverage – even though thick car cover with huge locks were placed on the camouflaged prototypes when the engineers weren't around. And, surprisingly, these were driven on the roads only 10 to 30 minutes total each of the days that we did surveillance on them. Far less than we expected, but we still managed to get quality photos. Codenamed GMX353, this second generation LaCrosse will be riding on the new (global) front-wheel-drive Epsilon II platform. It will be the first car in the United States to use this architecture. Production is expected to start at the Fairfax facility in February of 2009, reaching dealerships shortly afterwards as a 2010 model. Annual production numbers in the 65-75K range are expected.