CORNWALL, N.Y. — The road to Wall Street runs through this Hudson Valley town where General Motors automobiles — indeed, where domestic cars of any make or model — are a distinct minority in a strongly flowing stream of Asian and European nameplates.

It is an empirical reality spawned by a generation of marginal quality and missed opportunities by domestic car companies, ending in bankruptcy for GM and Chrysler in 2009 and billions of dollars in federal rescue cash for both.

Ford escaped that opprobrium only because it had faced failure earlier than its American siblings. By the time GM and Chrysler were entering the poorhouse, Ford was on the mend, having made enormous sacrifices of physical assets and personnel and borrowed billions from private lenders to develop new, successful products.

Now GM seems to have turned onto Comeback Road, announcing recently that it is preparing to go to Wall Street to again sell shares publicly in a bid to do in capital markets what it no longer wishes to do under the derisive nickname of “Government Motors.”

And what GM wants to do, quite simply, is what it too long failed to do as General Motors — design, build and sell inarguably the best cars in the world. But the problem for GM is the same for anyone or anything with a badly damaged reputation — getting people to give you value by believing in you once again.

GM is going to have to claw its way back one superior car at a time — superior in overall quality, design, performance, safety and market appeal, the latter of which speaks to value for dollar. The 2011 Buick Regal CXL, a midsize family sedan, is a start. It is not hyperbole to mention it in the same lineup as the Acura TSX, Audi A4, Hyundai Genesis, Lexus IS or Volkswagen CC.

Based on my own 700 miles of driving it, the 2011 Buick Regal CXL says in ways that words never can that the Old GM is dead and that a New GM, one that clearly understands “It’s the car, stupid,” has risen.

Both exterior and interior design are attractive and purposeful, meaning that the exterior is meant to please the eye and cheat the wind and the interior is meant to coddle, entertain and inform. Interior fit and finish are excellent, rivaling anything from Audi/Volkswagen, which is no accident. The new Regal is the progeny of GM’s Germany-based Opel group. It is based on the Opel Insignia sedan.

The Germans have long topped their Asian and American rivals in interior automotive design. The 2011 Buick Regal CXL honors that legacy.

A production model of the front-wheel-drive Regal with a turbocharged 2-liter in-line four-cylinder engine (220 horsepower, 258 foot-pounds of torque) was not ready for this column. Instead I drove the standard 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine (182 horsepower, 172 foot-pounds of torque) with direct fuel injection.

I was not disappointed. The standard engine accelerated smoothly on highways at low elevations and performed with gusto in the foothills and mountains, even making it up Mine Hill Road here, about 1,500 feet above sea level, without much of a sweat.

2011 Buick Regal CXL

Base price: $26,245As tested: $29,785

Type: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive midsize mainstream family sedan with a traditional notchback trunk

Engine: A 2.4-liter, 16-valve in-line four-cylinder engine with direct fuel injection and variable valve lift and timing (182 horsepower, 172 foot-pounds of torque) is standard. It is linked to a six-speed transmission that can be operated automatically or manually. A turbocharged 2-liter four-cylinder engine (220 horsepower, 258 foot-pounds of torque) will be available later this year.

Mileage: 30 mpg highway, 18 in the city