Currently, the 2017 Buick LaCrosse comes in one single powertrain flavor: a 3.6-liter LGX V6 engine. However, should gasoline prices fluctuate and climb upward, the brand seems ready to respond with more hybrids and electrification.
AutoGuide reports the 2017 Buick LaCrosse Hybrid, currently a China-only product, could easily fill a gap should the market deem it necessary to do so. The LaCrosse Hybrid trades its the 3.6-liter V6 for a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine and a 1.5 kWh lithium-ion battery pack to help it achieve greater fuel economy. If it were to reach North America, 46 mpg could be achievable, similar to what the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid returns.
For now, though, the brand will sit back and see how the market plays out.
Comments
I was hoping they would be proactive and sell it here anyway. Buick stated that the Lacrosse was to be class leading in every way. The Avalon is available in a hybrid, but even though Lacrosse has a hybrid ready to go, we can’t buy it. GM just doesn’t seem to want to push any boundaries in the market anymore and offer anything more than one bodystyle and one powertrain for everything they build. Look how long it took for us to get a proper Malibu Hybrid, or even a Cruze hatch.
Well, actually, “only one powertrain” was not the case until recently – GM offered eAssist “mild hybrid” for 2nd gen LaCrosse for model years 2012-2016 – five years in a row. It had way better gas mileage, than regular gas LaCrosses, and reasonable price, but still gained limited popularity – like, less than 25% 2nd gen LaCrosses were ordered with eAssist – may be, way less than 25%, I don’t know the exact numbers.
Why?
Simply because generally there is a BIG issue with hybrid sedans, which is not always mentioned – hybrid versions of the same sedans usually have WAY SMALLER trunk, simply because the sizable battery for electric part of the hybrid powertrain is put in the trunk, thus eating up, like, 20% of its volume. This greatly reduces the practical utility of the car to the point of killing the deal for a number of customers, who then just go with default gas version.
2nd gen LaCrosse certainly was no exception – it’s trunk was already small for a car of its size even in a regular gas version (I actually own 2010 2nd gen V6 LaCrosse, so I know what I’m talking about), to begin with, but then its trunk became ungodly small, narrow and impractical in a mild hybrid eAssist version. What a pity for such a good car in all the other aspects.
This hybrid must come to compete with the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, which is much more expensive.
If they’re already made in China, why wouldn’t you ship some over and see how it goes? Engine’s a little underpowered, but what do you have to lose?