Buick Encore To Ride On Gamma Plus Platform
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GM Authority has learned has the Buick Encore compact crossover will utilize an extended version of General Motors’ Gamma vehicle architecture, internally known as Gamma Plus or Gamma Extended. The news may come as a surprise to many, as those who have seen the teaser image of the Encore have pointed to styling similarities with the Theta-based Vue.
Moreover, GM Authority sources have said that the vehicle will be “in the 170s [inches] in length” and will feature a longer wheelbase compared to its “regular” Gamma platform mates such as the Chevrolet Sonic.
Stay tuned to GM Authority for more Encore news in the coming weeks.
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We would be lucky if they put a 2.0T in that thing
Agree with the whole why thing here, and why not the delta platform. Is this infact a relic of old GM, meant to be a Saturn or a Pontiac. They still have to spread across brands. Even GM can’t have a model that has its own singular platform, except corvette, bummer.
The CTS’s Sigma platform?
@Grawdaddy Yes, the Sigma is another platform exclusive to one brand. 🙂
Yea thats what I hate about GM and the domestic makes in general(though other automakers often do the same thing), they just cant be content with letting a vehicle retain its own platform. I mean theres nothing wrong with platform sharing as long as the cars are in the same class and have unique sheetmetal, interiors, and other elements. The Cruze and Verano are good examples of this. The Escalade and Tahoe, not so much. But platform sharing should still be limited and not cross distant brands like how the XTS and Impala are rumored to be. There should only be platform sharing between chevy and buick or buick and cadillac, and there should never be badge engineering under any circumstances. On a side note, I fear VW making the same mistake GM once(or possibly still is) making. The Cayenne and Tiguan are reminding me of the Cavalier and Cimmaron. As long as the cars are good, volumes and profit margins will go up, but will dilute the brands identy and reputation over the long term, not to mention if one platform is bad, than all of the brands using it will suffer. Hopefully GM will not fall into the habit of doing this too much.
@Grawddy what about the first gen SRX
What about the present generation CTS?
Grawdaddy,
Youre right, but GM will probably change that with 3rd gen CTS
I’d disagree about the platform sharing bit… to an extent. Toyota and Lexus share many, many, many platforms. Most of Lexus’ volume comes from vehicles based on Toyotas, like the ES, CT, HS, GX, LX, and the RX, although the RX now has a modified chassis for the new model.
In any event, a platform is nothing; two vehicles sharing the same platform can be completely different in exterior design, driving characteristics, and interior design & materials… The Lexus models are perfect examples of this.
Keeping this in mind, let’s remember that Lexus has been the #1 volume luxury brand over the last ten years, with very high resale values (and high brand identity).
So, platform sharing between Chevy, Buick, or Caddy shouldn’t matter; but the final vehicle should. Now, it’s probably a fact of life (and strategy) that Chevys will be FWD-based while Caddys will be RWD-based; but Buick — and this is the point of my comment — shouldn’t be treated as a second-class citizen to Caddy. The two should be on the same level from a luxury perspective, but appeal to different luxury buyers. That’s my take, gents.
Alex,
True but if you notice all of the models ES, CT, HS, GX, LX, sales have been steadily declining, and are only kept afloat because of Lexus’s good image and because the original platforms they are based on are good cars. And I would argue the RX has been modified enough to be considered its own independent platform, thus explaining its success.
Im not saying platform sharing is bad, just that it should be only done in certain cases and that upcale brands like Cadillac and Buick should have at least a few models on independent platforms. I think youre right on Buick and Cadillac, they should be conidered equal to each just pursue different markets. Though it is difficult to consider Buick equal to Cadilac when GM itself has considered Buick a second class citizen to Cadillac. Hopefully that will change.
Agreed; Buick will remain a second-class luxury brand until GM itself realizes that it can take it upmarket to compete with Lexus (and its less sports-oriented brands like the HS, ES, RX, for starters) and charge more for it.
Lexus sales have only declined last year and this year; Their bread-and-butter vehicle — the ES — is already outdated — so I expect sales to drastically shoot back up when the new ES comes to market. Plus, there’s the whole production issue to blame for the decline (natural disasters in Japan have limited production). More than anything, Lexus has changed the luxury game by doing luxury differently — not everything needs to be performance-oriented in the lux space. By doing that, they’ve carved out a solid niche for themselves.
PS: my last three cars were Lexus: 2009 ES330, 2010 IS250, 2010 ES350 and my mom has the LS. I didn’t pay for mine (company cars), but I did learn what Lexus stands for.
We will see what this vehicle truly is, but like many here I wonder about this vehicles legitimacy and what of it’s price point. Is GM looking to fill a niche that doesn’t exist or are they just throwing darts at a wall hoping to hit the dart board, seems risky. Will we be surprised or dismayed, pleasantly surprised or unpleasantly shocked. Will it be a ground breaker or will the floor fall out from underneath. Does GM get there customer, recent history says yes, is GM bring in new customers recent history says yes. But who will buy this vehicle, what demographic will pursue this. Will this bring new light to the Buick brand or will it confuse the customer. Only time will tell…
I think there IS a niche that needs to be filled, just not sure if this is the vehicle to do it. GM needs a vehicle in the $25K range that is smaller than the Equinox, high in utility, well styled and also full featured; to give it an upscale feel (but not luxury). The vehicle will also need to achieve greater efficiency than the Equinox, somewhere in the 35-40 mpg range for FWD and 32+ mpg if AWD is offered (and it should be). If you go back to Page 1 and look at the list of vehicles that a couple of us threw out there, you’ll see that GM has a gaping hole that needs to be filled. I wouldn’t write off the Gamma platform as being inferior to the Delta just because it’s smaller. I think of the platform as just being a mounting points for brakes, suspension, and engine. Wheelbase and track can both be altered to make things bigger and the use of high strength steel pretty much makes every new platform better than the one that it is replacing.
There will be a Chevy that’s similar to the Encore… which will fill the need for a compact CUV. So that’s that. 🙂
About the Gamma platform and dismissing it due to its size — it’s not about the size in and of itself. It’s about what the platform was intended (engineer) for. While it is a set of mounting points (actually, a set of points in space), its original purpose was to be used for very small cars (subcompacts). So by the time you’re done stretching it, increasing the track, etc. — why not use a larger platform to begin with?
There is something to be said for the “solidity” — or the solid nature — of certain platforms; when we’re talking luxury, it’s even more important for that solidity to be present. I don’t think enough of it will be present in this vehicle… but I’d love to be proven wrong.
Daddy, K
JeremyK, thx4 the excellent points, these are the type of posts worth reading, it will be interesting how Buick markets and positions this vehicle, will it have a more aggressive flare or harken back to Buick of old. If aggressive and sporty with Buick elegance this could be a fun vehicle and help Buick pull in new customers as have the Regal and lacrosse.
Alex the chevy and the buick will have two very differant personalities and drive totally differant similiar to comparing the cruze and the verano head to head, if you look at the smaller market of cuv this buick will break ground but it is exactly the new ground we are going for, we do not want to do what everyone else is doing without exploring huge potentials in new areas. how many very good sporting driving compact utility vehicles are out in the market to my likes none. porsche did this with their suv and caddy is doing this with srx and buick will do this with encore, I did not see any comments ideas of this being a great idea but to us a GM this has a lot of potential with both buick and chevy and you forgot GMC, I am sure by now you have seen this what do you think of the style?
JD, non of us have seen the vehicle, a picture of the hood does not get me excited, the front image shown in this post doesn’t do much for me, If I had to judge by this image alone I would have to say YAWN, nothing ground breaking here, no design evolution that speaks to a higher perceived value, just another vehicle with 4 wheeles. JD we want to be wowed, but until we see the whole picture and grasp the whole package many of us are going to question this vehicles legitimacy. The Gamma platform even raises more questions, and until we see the actual vehicle we are going to question it.
Yaba, you are correct about needing to see the whole picture. I loved it. With Enclave, LaCrosse, Regal and Verano, the Buick line has improved tremendously since 2007. I have faith that the people at Buick are continuing to improve the line-up with Encore. It will sell.
I’ve seen references on another web-site to the Opel Mocha. Is this what we can expect?
Craig, you are absolutely right a huge improvement indeed, as GMrs we should have high expectations of our semi luxury brand option. I would buy any Buick you mentioned, and hope to feel the same way about Encore, but at same time I want to give constructive criticism where due, so the next gen of vehicles are even more refined and follow the characteristics of a Buick.
Yaba, the wow factor will be with the GMC version The buick version will be very NICE and a real good drivers cuv Porsche has had a good time with their suv type sports car now it is time to bring a little fun to the CUV segment, the chassis was chosen due to the very stiff components of the chassis. the little cars are being introduced first due to fuel prices and the need to fill some gaps. Pictures are sometimes put out in quarentine so some in the press get to see the full images before total release so they can craft articles this is what i was refering to alex for being some have seen the car, check out rick Kranz at autonews he has seen it for sure and he does like not sure if Alex has seen but i assume he has??? By the way buick is not going for the WOW factor they are going for very very good and what Internally is called Continuous Improvement..hope this helps
I’ll believe it when I see it…
JD, thx for breakdown. I will have to take yr word for it. Honestly I hope I will be impressed. In y regards to a WOW factor vs a GOOD factor there is way to much competition for Buick not to have some wow, for that matter what is going to bring the Toyota/Honda buyer into the show room or even the Acura and maybe Volkswagon buyer. The Verano exterior design is all ready dated and understated even compared to the competition, I hope this vehicle is not that dumbed down from an exterior styling point of view. Stop making excuses and bring it, most consumers shop around including myself, I personally have never bought new and have owned 7 cars (5 of which have been GM)in last 25 years, so what’s going to bring me into a GM dealership to buy brand new where I am not going to lose my shorts in resale value. Time to raise the bar and leave old GM in the grave where it belongs… JD you can preach all the good stuff GM is doing and that’s great and everything but we are still waiting for the holistic experience other car companies provide there customers on top of the value 4 the money. I want to be able to tell my friend I buy GM with out them saying GM is garbage and rambling on about there own personal horror story, or crappy dealership experience and then it makes me wonder why I buy GM.
The Opel Mocha is this vehicle, good grief help us all. Is this some type of sick joke. Please tell me the Buick is skinned differently. PLEASE…
What happened to the elegant concept, this has no relationship to that at all, it’s kind of like the original Volt concept when the car came out people where dismayed by the design change, let’s hope the Buick is more refined then the Opel.