Buick did something rather risky when it comes to the new, sixth-generation Regal: it replaced the sedan body style with the Regal Sportback. The model looks somewhat like a sedan, but features a unique liftback-style rear hatch that, when opened, raises the rear decklid as well as the rear glass area, resulting in more cargo room.
The body style is rather unique, and Buick touts it as providing “unexpected versatility”. In addition to the Sportback, the U.S. market gets the Regal TourX – a ruggedized wagon that places the Tri-Shield into new territory that it refers to as “whitespace“. But there is a third body style for the sixth-generation Regal family that is not well-known. That body style is the traditional Regal Sedan.
Chinese-market Regal Sedan
Buick has elected to continue offering the traditional sedan body style of the new, sixth-generation Regal in the Chinese market. In fact, the sedan is the only Regal body style offered in China. The difference between the Chinese-market Regal Sedan and U.S.-market Regal Sportback isn’t readily apparent to the unsuspecting passer-by. In fact, one truly has to look closely to see it – but the tell-tale signs are in the trunk area and C-pillar treatment: on the Regal Sedan, the C-pillar is thinner and the decklid is longer than on the Regal Sportback. In other words, the Regal Sedan looks like a traditional sedan, while the Sportback has “something strange” going on after the mid-point of the rear window. A side-by-side look tells the entire picture.
We imagine that the difference in body styles is the result of the assembly location of each model: the Regal Sedan is made exclusively in China, for China. The Sportback (and TourX), meanwhile, are assembled for Buick at the Opel Russelsheim plant in Germany. The plant makes the Opel-Vauxhall Insignia equivalents for Europe, where the traditional sedan body style is not available.
Something tells us that if the Russelsheim plant were also making the Insignia sedan, then North American markets would have received that model, rather than the Sportback. In a similar vein, if the SGM Jinqiao plant (which makes the Chinese-market Regal Sedan) were supplying Regals for the U.S. market, then we would have only received the Sedan variant… but we digress.
And so there you have it: the sixth-gen Regal is actually offered in three body styles globally – the traditional Sedan, the liftback-style Sportback, and the TourX rugged wagon.
About Buick Regal
2018 Buick Regal Sportback (U.S. market)
2018 Buick Regal TourX (U.S. market)
2018 Buick Regal Sedan (Chinese market)
The Buick Regal is a midsize-size premium passenger vehicle line that is currently in its sixth generation and slots above the compact Excelle and Verano (in China) and below the full-size LaCrosse (in North American and in China). The Regal family currently consists of the following models:
- Regal Sportback – a four-door, sedan-like model with a liftback trunk (U.S. and Canada)
- Regal GS (Regal Sportback GS) –Â a four-door Regal Sportback with several performance upgrades (U.S and Canada)
- Regal TourX – a five-door ruggedized wagon (U.S.)
- Regal Sedan – a traditional four-door sedan (China)
Buick revealed the all-new Regal in April 2017 at the New York Auto Show and the vehicles launched for the 2018 model year. The sixth-gen model is based on the GM E2 platform, which also underpins the 2016 and newer Chevrolet Malibu and upcoming Cadillac XT4. The Regal is also sold as the second-generation Opel-Vauxhall Insignia and the NG 2018 Holden Commodore in Australia and New Zealand by GM subsidiary Holden.
Prior to the launch of the sixth-gen model, the fifth-generation Regal was available for a total of seven model years, from 2011 thru 2017. That model rode on the GM Epsilon II platform also shared with the first-gen Opel-Vauxhall Insignia and eighth-generation Malibu.
The sixth-gen Buick Regal is built at the Opel Rüsselsheim plant in Germany for North America and at the SGM Jinqiao plant operated by Shanghai GM (SGM) / GM China for the Chinese market.
Related News & Info
- GM news
- Buick Regal information
- Running GM sales results
- Running Buick sales results
- Running Buick Regal sales results
- Running Buick sales results
Comments
Good eye, took a bit to see it. Wagon ftw
The Buick Regal might be the sixth model bearing that name, but the current Buick Regal is just the second generation of the car which was developed as sucessor to the Opel Vectra, and which was sold under Opel, Vauxhall, and Buick name plates; the Saab version of that car was stillborn due to the GM bankruptcy (only some pre-production cars exist today), and it was just as the Buick LaCrosse just the somewhat longer version of the technically same car.
The first 45,000 Buick Regal (first version of Opel Insignia) where built in Rüsselsheim alongside the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia. Opel also marketed a sedan version of the Insignia, where I see as only difference that the trunk hatch hinges’ are below the rear window instead of above that window, but since it did not sell well, it was not recreated with the second generation of this car.
OTOH, there is another body style not known in North America, the regular Insignia station wagon without the rugged looking applications on the body and with regular ground clearance instead of the slightly lifted one for the “Country Tourer” = “Tour X”.
Yeah, it makes me wonder what it would be named as if it was sold in the us?
Curious as to what Buick is going to do for the next generation Regal. That’s providing there is a next generation Regal.
I like the look of the sedan. Definitely my choice
One has to wonder whether Buick is testing to see what the market wants before deciding and is reason for why Buick of China features a different body style than Buick North America; the liftback was a popular design with Japanese imports in the 1980s and 1990s as it allowed owners to access a large storage area especially with the 60-40 split folding rear seats down.
One has to consider that Buick China is a brand of Shanghai GM, the 50:50 joint venture of GM with SAIC Motors, and that their cars are being built in China. Buick NA is a brand of GM Company.
For GM, the development of the second generation of the Opel Insignia and its derivatives for other brands goes in hand with decisions about where to produce which variants and for which markets. The pressing tools are quite expensive, so one would prefer to minimize the number of production sites.
Opel had produced both the sedan and the hatchback, differing just in the hinge of the trunk’s hatch being above or below of the rear window (I could never distinquish the two), but sold not really much of the sedan variant. It was just not pracital, this small hatch for the large trunk. So the “sedan” version was dropped for the second generation. I think that even the station car (wagon) sold more than the sedan/hatch.
GM then took the decision that Shanghai GM would build their variant, and all other variants should be produced in the Rüsselsheim plant in Germany. But Rüsselsheim did not prepare for a separate “sedan” variant.
I think the sedan for China only is something I wish they would reconsider.
I would prefer the sedan, as an Avenir with a V6 and HUD.