General Motors’ Buick division has revealed the Encore SUV at the Detroit auto show. The little SUV is not only an additional model but previews a Chevrolet to come, as well as the new Opel and Vauxhall Mokka.
The new model will compete with the Audi Q3 and BMW X1 in Mexico and Canada but due no doubt to the ongoing volatility of the US dollar, neither of those vehicles is (yet?) sold in the USA. Interestingly enough, GM namechecks both of these as rivals in its media information but makes no mention of the Range Rover Evoque.
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The Encore has a wheelbase measurement of 2,555m (100.6 inches), is 4,278mm long (168.5), 1,774mm wide (69.9) and 1,646mm high (64.8). That makes it four inches shorter than the Q3 and, incidentally, some eight inches narrower than the new Ford EcoSport.
The 2013 Encore will be manufactured at GM Korea’s Bupyeong plant, alongside the Chevrolet Aveo (North America’s version of that car, the Sonic, is built at Orion Assembly in Michigan). Sources have revealed to just-auto that the Encore and its Opel Mokka twin will not share the Gamma 2 architecture of the Aveo/Sonic.
At this stage, GM is saying nothing of the potential for selling and/or building the Encore in China, Buick’s largest market. The new vehicle will be launched in North America in the first quarter of 2013 with a standard 1.4-litre I4 turbo engine.
A new SUV for Chevrolet is due to be launched later this year – as yet there is no confirmed model name but it is almost certain to come down the same line at Bupyeong as the Encore. GM Korea, GM Europe and certain other global divisions should start selling it from the third or fourth quarters of 2012.
Looking at images of the Opel (and Vauxhall) Mokka, the new SUV that will have its global debut at the Geneva show in March, it appears to be more or less the same vehicle as the Encore. Opel and Vauxhall will offer different engines, however.
