A heavily-camouflaged Buick Excelle (the original one) was recently caught undergoing testing in China. Spotted roaming the streets of Shanghai, the vehicle’s hood seems to be raised above the grille, appearing to serve as an extra air intake.
The Excelle is the most popular Buick on sale today globally; interestingly, it’s no Buick at all, but rather a very simple and unsophisticated model, having started its life as a rebadged Daewoo. In that regard, the Excelle shouldn’t be confused with the Delta-based Excelle GT (sedan) or Excelle XT (hatchback) that are related to the Buick Verano and Opel Astra.

2013 Buick Excelle. Notice the resemblance to the Daewoo Lacetti.
So now that we’re confident that we’re talking about the same Excelle — this vehicle was given a facelift back in February, making another update to the exterior unlikely. That leaves us thinking that General Motors is testing a new engine, or perhaps even an entirely overhauled powertrain in the prototype seen here.
Currently, the Excelle starts at 96,900 Chinese Yuan ($15,800 USD) and is powered by a 1.5 liter four-cylinder engine making 111 horsepower and 103 lb-ft of torque; the antiquated four-banger is paired with either a six-speed manual or a 5-speed automatic — a rather outdated powertrain combination, by any stretch.
Stay tuned as we learn more.
Comments
Apart from the typo of 10hp, I don’t really see anything that says that the powertrain is outdated, per se. 6 speed manuals are offered by everybody, the C7 Corvette and the 911 Carerra being the only 7 speeds out there. 5 speed autos are still pretty common too. Now if you had said 5 speed manual and 4 speed auto I would agree. The powertrain combination isn’t cutting edge, but I wouldn’t bash it too much. At best it’s a mismatch. The engine is clearly a throw back to the old Family II European engines like the ones available in the Daewoo Cielo GLE I used to have (1.5L SOHC 8 valve EFI, 75hp coupled to the TH125C 3 speed auto).
Richard — the engine barely makes 110 horsepower and 100 lb-ft of torque. It’s not direct-injected, and is a friction-heavy unit. Let’s not forget that this powertrain combo is found in a Buick (a supposed luxury brand) — this isn’t a bottom-of-the-barrel Chevy we’re talking about here, while being mated to a 5-speed (a less expensive Chevy Sonic has a 6-speed auto and manual, by contrast). Outdated is the perfect way to describe this powertrain combo.
What runs as Buick Kaiyue Excelle was sold in other parts of the world as Chevrolet Lacetti or Nubira. Buick started in China with this badge-engineered Daewoo, and a badge-engineered Opel Corsa B (I believe B), which went by the name of Buick Sail. This Sail was then rebadged as Chevrolet, and finally replaced by the current, PATAC-developed Chevrolet Sail which is sold not only in China, but also on other parts of the Pacific Rim, and in India.
But I agree with other commentators here that the photo above shows rather a mule testing a new platform, my WAG being D2XX.
The wheels are felt strange, especially rear … That detail evidence that will test mule on a different platform!
Would not surprise me at all that they are preparing a new generation based on the stretched version of the Gamma platform that uses the Brazilian Chevrolet Cobalt, which has longer wheelbase than the old J200 Daewoo source: 2620mm (103.15 inches) vs 2600mm (102.36 inches).
Greetings!
I too think it is a case of a different mule body on a new platform for testing. Many of GM’s cars had old or different bodies during testing. Just look at what Cadillac did for the ATS with the old CTS body on it.
I agree with the new chassis/old body R&D theory – we’ve seen this before. The wheel flares hint at this, and there probably wasn’t enough clearance to close the hood, so they just left it up vs fabricating a dome in the hood.
I’d say the gap you reference to air intake is just a matter of the hood being proped open, looking more closely on the side you’ll also see a gap suggesting the hood is not entirely closed. 2nd if you look closely at the rear wheel open arches they appear to be a larger opening with a bit of a flare, finally the front facia in this shot suggests some of the details ie. fog light opening & trim are also different, this would lead to conclude that perhaps this is both a powertrain and a mild styling refresh even considering the styling recently got an update.
The better-selling Buick Excelle goes by the Chinese name Kaiyue, the other Excelle, the twin of the Astra/Verano is known as Yinglang. I learned that from a news item of the government-run “China Automotive Information Net (CAIN)” on Shanghai GM sales in January.
This is just pretty much a dressed up Suzuki Forenza