As General Motors' first entry into the personal luxury car market segment, the Riviera was highly praised by automotive journalists upon its high-profile debut.

From then until 1962 it only was used to denote a premium trimmed six-window hardtop style which it initially shared exclusively with Cadillac (the Oldsmobile 98 would receive it in 1961) and was available only on the Electra 225.

Its angular look was reportedly inspired by GM styling chief Bill Mitchell's visit to London during the period, when he was struck by the sight of a custom-bodied Rolls-Royce.

Buick, desperate to revive its flagging sales, won the competition by enlisting the aid of the McCann-Erickson advertising agency to create its presentation.

[6] The elegant ground-up styling sported the new "Coke bottle look" introduced the year before on the arresting Studebaker Avanti, with a tapered midsection surrounded by flaring fenders.

The Riviera's suspension used Buick's standard design, with double wishbones in the front and a live axle located by trailing arms and a lateral track bar in the rear, but the roll centers were lowered to reduce body lean.

Buick's 325 hp (242 kW) 401 cu in (6.6 L) "Nailhead" V-8 was initially the only available engine,[11] fitted with dual exhaust as standard equipment, and the turbine drive the only transmission.

A 360 hp (268 kW) 'Super Wildcat' version was available, with dual Carter AFB four-barrel carburetors.In 1965 the 401 cu in (6.6 L) V8 returned as the standard engine, and the "Gran Sport" version made its debut, powered by the Super Wildcat V8, a 360 hp (268 kW) engine equipped with two Carter 625 CFM carburetors, a distributor with different advance, and outfitted with a more aggressive 3.42 axle ratio.

The Riviera was well received by the motoring press and considered a great success, giving the Thunderbird its first real competition as America's preeminent personal luxury car.

Cosmetically, changes were few and were limited to the addition of a wide, full-width, center-mounted horizontal chrome grille bar that stretched over the headlight doors and outboard parking lights.

[25] 1967 saw the introduction of U.S. mandated safety equipment to improve occupant crash protection, including an energy-absorbing steering column, non-protruding control knobs, 4-way hazard flasher, soft interior surfaces, locking seatbacks (on 2-door models), a dual-circuit hydraulic braking system (with warning light), and shoulder belt anchors.

1968 models had reshaped loop-type bumpers that surrounded both the vehicle's recessed crosshatch front grille and tail lamps.

Federally mandated side marker lights appeared, as inverted trapezoids on the lower leading edges of the front fenders, and circular in the rear.

(Collectible Automobile ran an article about 1971–76 full-sized Buicks in which one sketch design for their 2-door coupes which was rejected resembled the 1971–73 Riviera).

Performance remained reasonably brisk, with a 0–60 mph time of 8.1 seconds for the GS, but the Riviera's sporty image was rapidly fading.

The 1972 Riviera received a new, egg-crate grille, more substantial front bumpers to prepare for the new 5-mph impact legislation, restyled taillight trim, and the louvers were removed from the trunk lid.

Sluggish sales of the third generation Riviera led GM to believe that the boattail deck lid was too radical for most customers' tastes, so in 1973 it was blunted and made slightly shorter.

Although carrying over the same platform, mechanicals, and some body panels seen on the "Third Generation" Riviera, Buick replaced its distinctive 'boat tail' roofline with a more conventional-looking "Colonnade" treatment which was more in line with its LeSabre and Electra brethren than its front-wheel drive cousins.

The revised styling did not improve sales, which fell to 20,129 in 1974, although it is impossible to determine how much this was a result of the energy crisis and how much was due to the tame appearance.

[38] This generation introduced a novelty that later became federally mandated in a modified form, two high-mounted taillights above the trunk and below the rear window, which was shared on its platform twin the Toronado.

While the other E-bodies were front wheel drive since 1966 (1967 for Cadillac's Eldorado), the Buick E platform used a rear-wheel-drive B-body undercarriage (along with the cruciform frame of pre-1965 GMs for the 1966–70 generation).

These have a special two-tone exterior paint, real wire wheels, a leather, and walnut interior as well as 24-karat gold plated "Riviera XX" badging.

[39] Production Figures The E-body coupes were converted to unibody construction and transverse front-wheel drive — and was further downsized for 1986, to a 108 in (2,743 mm) wheelbase.

For the last three model years Buick used the L27 iteration with sequential, tuned port fuel injection (TPI), which gained a few more horsepower and more mid-range torque from a new, two-piece intake manifold with longer runners.

This generation featured the Graphic Control Center (GCC), an advanced electronic instrumentation system which employed a dash-mounted 9-inch (230 mm) monochrome touchscreen CRT display.

The seventh generation Riviera saw the installation of Dynaride, which was an air compressor that would pressurize the rear Chapman struts to maintain a level overall ride height.

At the 2007 Shanghai Motor Show, Buick debuted a concept coupe named Riviera, based on the GM Epsilon II platform.

It includes "icy green" backlighting, Shell Blue body, gull-wing doors, a 2+2 seating configuration, and 21-inch 10-spoke forged aluminum wheels.

Another concept Riviera was shown at the 2013 Shanghai Motor Show, again developed by the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center PATAC.

It has gull-wing doors and a plug-in electric driveline as well as four wheel steering, electromagnetically controlled suspension with air springs, built in 4G LTE connection, transparent A pillar and wireless charging.