A relatively small brand in North America, Buick is a big deal in China, where 432,264 vehicles were sold in the first half of the year (compared to 107,240 in the USA). Which is why talk of GM phasing out Buick cars won’t happen, at least not in its number one market.
Cars
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By GlobalDataNot to be confused with the older Excelle GT and Excelle GX (a wagon) which use an architecture derived from one released by Daewoo Motor in 2002, the Excelle is a C segment sedan. It was announced for the Chinese market in May 2018 and uses the PATAC K platform. Production should last until the second half of 2025 with a facelift in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The current generation Regal was announced by GM on the eve of the 2017 New York auto show. Unlike the previous car, there were at first only two bodystyles: a five-door hatchback (‘Sportback’) which replaced the sedan in North America, and a crossover-wagon (TourX). The latter became available in that region from February 2018. The decision to go with a five-door hatchback to replace North America’s former Regal, which was a sedan, was a risky move. Opel manufactures both Sportback and TourX in Germany.
In March, GM quietly dropped the Regal and LaCrosse from its line-up in Mexico, thus ending the sale of all Buick cars there leaving only SUVs and crossovers.
GM China kept this fact quiet but the model manufactured by SAIC GM is a sedan. It looks very similar to the hatchback, though. US and Canadian dealers would certainly have preferred to have this body style but it’s probably too late for the car’s sales to recover in those countries, where demand remains poor (6,393 sold in the US during H1, down 22 per cent).
As Opel is in the process of retooling the majority of its plants for the manufacture of Groupe PSA architecture vehicles, the Regal for the US and Canada might have a short life cycle. Even if such a vehicle doesn’t make it to North America, there should be a replacement for GM China’s car: during the first seven months of 2019, sales of the locally made Regal totalled 60,776 units.
PHEV & EV
The Velite 5 is a special model for China. This PHEV has been manufactured by the SAIC GM joint venture since March 2017 but was first seen in concept form at November 2016’s Guangzhou motor show. It is more or less the same car as the former Opel Ampera-E and Chevrolet Volt with different front and rear styling. Sales have been slow: in the hundreds per year, so no replacement is expected and production will probably end soon.
Another PHEV for China is the Velite 6, launched there in 2018. An EV, which is called Velite 6 MAV, was revealed at the Shanghai motor show in April. Deliveries commenced immediately, including 5,000 vehicles for EV card, a car-sharing company.
The PHEV appears to have the same powertrain as the now out of production Chevrolet Volt. According to GM China, the car has “an EVT electronically controlled variable transmission, two AC permanent-magnet synchronous motors with a high-performance lithium-ion battery, and a 1.5L naturally aspirated engine especially tuned for hybrid vehicles”.
SUVs
SAIC and General Motors have just replaced China’s Encore with a model of the same name while adding a second, slightly larger SUV called Encore GX. These use different architectures. The GX will also be available in North America from early 2020. There, it will supplement rather than replace the Gamma platform Encore, even though that model has been around since the 2013 model year.
While the second generation and 4,295mm long Encore is based on SAIC-GM’s low cost GEM platform, the 4,463mm long Encore GX uses GM’s VSS-F. Both Encore and Encore are expected to be facelifted in 2022/2023 and replaced in 2026/2027 (China/North America).
It isn’t yet clear what GM intends to do with North America’s aged Encore. There might have been an intention to import SAIC-GM’s new JBUB series model but the current tariff threats and counter threats between the US and Chinese governments will inevitably have been making planning almost impossible. However, it may instead be the case that GM Korea will again make the Encore for North American markets and that the new model will be launched in the coming months.
To be clear, there are therefore now three Encores: the original one built by GM Korea since December 2012 (G1UB, Gamma architecture), SAIC GM’s new and slightly bigger Encore (JBUB, GEM architecture) and SAIC GM’s new and even larger Encore GX (9BUB, VSS-F architecture).
SAIC GM should receive a further Buick crossover in late 2019. E2UB might also be built and sold in North America. The unnamed additional model – Enspire is rumoured – will share much with the (4,599mm long) Cadillac XT4 but be lengthier, so probably around the 4.7-4.8m mark.
Another future SUV has the development code of C1UB. Sources indicate that the model name will be Enclave. Confusingly, this is already used in North America for a larger crossover.
China’s Enclave, which is also due on sale by year-end, is reported to share much, including a wheelbase dimension, with the 5,050mm long Cadillac XT6 but to be shorter. It is not yet known if this model will also be built in North America but if it is, the model name may not necessarily have to change. Some believe that the existing Enclave will instead become the Enclave GX for the 2020 or 2021 model years. It may be facelifted too.
The other Enclave is also based on GM’s C1xx platform, its model code being C1YB. The second generation of this big crossover went on sale in October 2017, the world premiere having been at New York auto show earlier in the year.
New for North America’s 2018 model year, the Enclave has a standard 302hp 3.6-litre V6 and a nine-speed automatic gearbox. It is also available with the Avenir model grade which Buick announced in September 2016. This is the brand’s equivalent of GMC’s Denali.
GM confirmed in March 2017 that the second generation Enclave would be manufactured alongside the related Chevrolet Traverse at the Lansing Delta Township plant in Michigan. Unlike the Chevy, which lost its third row of seats when it was replaced, the Enclave again has room for up to seven passengers.
As for the successor model, the architecture changes to VSS-F and the development code is said to be 9EYB. This vehicle is due in 2024 but there will be a facelift for the existing model in 2021.
The Buick global range consists of these vehicles:
- Encore (G1UB, Gamma architecture)
- New Encore (JBUB, GEM)
- Encore GX (9BUB, VSS-F)
- Enspire – name is speculative (E2UB, E2xx)
- Envision (D2UB, Global Delta)
- New Enclave – China – (C1UB, C1xx)
- Enclave – NAFTA – (C1YB, C1xx)
- Velite 5 (Global Delta)
- Velite 6 & Velite 6 MAV
- Excelle (K211, PATAC K)
- Excelle GT & Excelle GX (Daewoo J200)
- Verano (D2JB, Global Delta)
- GL6 (JCNB, PATAC K)
- GL8 Luxury MPV (GM CSV)
- Regal (E2SB, E2xx)
- LaCrosse (E2LB, E2xx)
Reports for many other manufacturers’ future models are grouped in the OEM product strategy summaries section of just-auto.com.
Future product program intelligence
More detail on past, current and forthcoming models can be found in PLDB, the future vehicles database which is part of QUBE. Details of all Buick models can be found there.
This was the sixth feature in a series which examines future models for the passenger vehicle divisions of General Motors. The first one looked at Baojun and the second one had Wuling as its focus, both brands which are co-owned by General Motors, SAIC and Liuzhou Wuling Motors. These were followed by Chevrolet cars, then Chevrolet SUVs and pick-ups. The final two will examine Cadillac and Holden.
