The 2016 Buick Cascada, revealed at the 2015 North American Auto Show, will indeed be imported directly from General Motors’ European unit, Opel, rather than being built domestically. The factory specifically is located in Gliwice, Poland where it currently runs at 70 percent capacity due to a slowing European economy and tumbling Russian currency. This may actually be a good step in the right direction to make good on GM CEO Mary Barra’s promise to return Opel to profitability by 2016.
With the assembly plant humming along at 70 percent, taking on a load from Buick to build left-hand drive vehicles for the North American market with add a new steady stream of operations for the lagging branch. A falling European currency value also makes exporting cars to North American much more attractive.
General Motors also announced it will manufacture a new crossover at its German assembly plant to replace the Zafira people mover in Europe. Adding to the newfound European production is Opel confirming a new Buick model for the United States will be built at the same German assembly in the next half of this decade.
All of this is part of a wide program being implemented by Barra and Opel chief Karl-Thomas Neumann, internally known as DRIVE 2022. The plan calls for a slew of new engines, transmissions and a family of new cars such as the Adam, Cascada and Insignia. Thus far, General Motors has been unsuccessful in returning Opel to a profitable status even after shutting down factories, shedding Saab and reversing a decision to sell Chevrolet across Europe.
The last time General Motors turned a net profit in Europe was in 1999.
Comments
I hope this means we’ll see the Cascada unleashed onto N. American roadways significantly sooner than the recently offered time-frame of “Spring 2016”.
As the factory in Gliwice has already been building Cascada’s for the European market, there hopefully won’t be as many “bugs” to work out. I’m crossing my fingers the electronics for us in the U.S. market will work without problems.
An option for a more powerful engine and manual tranny would be nice, too.
Agreed, I hope that this would translate into a speedier arrival in these shores.
Glad to see this car finally come the US ! I’m really hoping we see the next-gen Astra 5-door hatch or GTC as a Buick and equipped with the same 1.6-liter turbo-four that the US-spec Cascada has.
Gliwice will also produce a Holden version of the Cascada, said the Opel Int’l press release:
> But that’s not all: the Australian brand Holden will also benefit from this global GM strategy. Opel will export vehicles to Australia and New Zealand this year. In addition to the Holden Astra GTC, the especially sporty VXR version and the flagship Insignia, there will also be a Holden Cascada. Dr. Neumann says: “This makes the Cascada a convertible triplet on three continents – a very nice compliment and even more proof of the appeal of our large convertible.”
I’m really hoping the next-gen Astra 5-door and GTC models become Buicks, it’d be a good addition to the US market since there’s literally no one that offers a hatch or a coupe-hatch in the entry-level premium segment ever since the Volvo C30 left and the Audi A3 hatch only coming as a hybrid. Sure you can put the GTI in there but other than that, there’s really nothing else in there unless you consider the Q3, GLA and X1 as hatches.
Please Please bring manufacturing back to North America!!!! All costs aside we need work too! Some good job would help,big time!!!! I think people would really enjoy GM more,I know I would because I built it here!!!!!
That didn’t work out before for GM. The unions drove GM to bankruptcy, which they received a bailout for – only to go in bankruptcy.
Thank you for saying that. Being that this site is only for GM, I assume it’s almost entirely current and former GM employees reading this. Who else buys their cars??? Now they don’t build them either.
Almost all of the “new” models since the bailout have been rebadged euro models. Nothing new at all. And all better than the previous US based designs, but still behind Everyone else except Chrysler.