Back in April, we showed you the first spy photos of the upcoming Buick LaCrosse refresh. And now, we have a better look at the updated sedan thanks to a new set of high-quality spy photos.
Photographed by our eagle-eyed spies undergoing testing in Spain while (wearing German license plates), the prototype continues to feature a healthy dose of camouflage covering the front and rear ends, very much like the tester model we saw in April. These new, higher-quality shots confirm what we told you last time: the 2020 Buick LaCrosse facelift will adopt a front facia design similar to that of the 2018 Buick Regal, complete with “squinty” headlights and a large grille.
The LaCrosse refresh is expected to adopt a similar fascia as the 2018 Buick Regal (pictured)
It doesn’t look like the sides of the LaCrosse will receive any changes as part of the facelift, but the back surely will. Despite the heavy camo, this prototype of the LaCrosse refresh is wearing a revised rear fascia, complete with new taillamps and a new reverse indicator lamp. The new reverse light has a trapezoidal shape and is positioned dead center at the bottom of the rear end, similar to many current Cadillac models.
The facelifted Buick LaCrosse is expected to carry over much of the interior while keeping the same powertrain as the 2017-2019 models, which are offered with a choice of the standard 2.5L inline-four cylinder LHN engine with a 20 kW mild hybrid system paired to a six-speed automatic transmission or the 3.6L V-6 LGX engine mated to the GM 9-speed automatic transmission.
Expect the Buick LaCrosse refresh to be revealed before the end of the 2018 calendar year, and go on sale in 2019 as a 2020 model year vehicle.
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Comments
I wonder who is doing the testing. It could be Opel engineers finishing off their co-development agreement, since post 2020 LaCrosse will be purely a GM China/Detroit affair. This is similar to the Saab 9-5 and other rollup agreements that GM has been through, so it’s nothing new, but it could be the very last “Euro-tuned” GM car.
Yes, the county code “GG” for Groß-Gerau indicates that the Opel Technical Devolopment Center in Rüsselsheim is doing the development and testing. The finishing of the LaCrosse refresh is obviously one of the development contracts being worked on in Rüsselsheim, Germany, after being sold from GM to PSA.
German licence plates begin with 1, 2 or 3 letters indicating the authority awarding the licence, then a serial number composed of 1 or 2 letters and 1 to 4 digits.
Rüsselsheim is located in Groß-Gerau county, and thus all cars registered by Opel carry a licence plate beginning with GG.
BTW, this week, Opel holds several “TechDay” showing how the former GM International Development Center is reconfiguring to be a PSA International Development Center.
The Rüsselsheim TDC has been awarded 15 “competence centers”, among them the development of a new platform for light commercial vehicles (LCV) for all PSA brands (which I understand that PSA with Opel is developing their own successor to the vehicle shared for more a decade with FIAT, the Peugeot Master/Citroën Jumper/Fiat Ducato built in the SEVEL factory in Atessa, Italy, between the Abruzzes Mountains and the Adriatic Sea. Also known as the RAM ProMaster.)
Well, the “GG” on the licence plate could also indicate a Hyundai vehicle — the “Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center” is also located in Rüsselsheim: /www.hmetc.com/
From what we know, GM kept some engineers on hand as part of Opel’s sale to PSA and have a hangar somewhere in Germany that they work out of. This could be who is doing the testing.
That might be, too. But fact is that some thousand engineers in the Rüsselsheim Technical Development Center were working on GM development contracts not related to Opel/Vauxhall, and are continuing to do. Up to 2020, at least.
I remember having read the number of 3000 people working on GM projects at the time of handover.
And on the other hand, Opel is still using GM data processing infrastructure, the most visible being the press room: http://media.gm.com/media/intl/en/opel/home.html
(in German language: media.gm.com /media/ de/ de/ opel/ news .html, or replace the intl/en/ by de/de/)
The hangar you are speaking about might be at the Nürburg Ring. But that would also have been a common Opel/GM one.
It is not easy to untangle the multitude of interconnections integrating Opel as part of GM as the whole.
These photos are in the exact same spot as the refreshed Malibu. Kinda funny
Probably the same photographer sitting at the same track in the same spot!
Interesting the Lacrosse is getting a refresh after only three years. Meanwhile impala still has a six speed automatic.
So the slow selling lacrosse is getting a refresh but not the impala…?
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Impala on its way out. Wish they could have kept it updated but sedan market now is thin.
Buick is powerful in China. Buick gets the budget.
The real Malaise era is right around the corner. Forget about the 1970’s or early 80’s. Soon your only choice will be trucks and sports utes or a small handful of Asian sedans and you won’t even be able to enjoy driving them yourself!
This won’t fix the biggest problem with the car’s styling. From the B-pillar back, it’s a bland, anonymous and totally forgettable vehicle. Why again didn’t they use the sexy looks of the Avenir show car???
Because changing the B-pillar back would require structural changes to E2XX, and I’m fairly sure PSA doesn’t want to do the work. Heck, when Saab and GM split, Saab was stuck paying the bills for the Cadillac BLS (according to on-record statements from Saab-Spyker folks).
Any big change like that is being done in China and Detroit, for the future E2/D2 unified platform tooling that’s well under way.
Yes Buick is huge in China. But in North America the most profitable market impala outsells Buick lacrosse. They need a new impala for North America. The most expensive part of the development has already been done for the lacrosse. All they need to do is put a new sheet metal on it. And the new interior. And regular shifter.
The notion that most of the development work has been done on a new Impala because of the 2017 and newer LaCrosse is somewhat true. Though the chassis is done for, bringing it to market means that they still need to 1) develop the new Impala, 2) validate it, and 3) tool for it. Those are not cheap things to do, and still cost in the range of $500 million to $1 billion range. So yes, having an existing platform helps… but it’s only about 25-30 percent of the overall cost of bringing a new model to market.
That said, all this might be irrelevant… just look at the Impala sales trajectory:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/gm/chevrolet/impala/chevrolet-impala-sales-numbers/
… having looked at it, please tell me that you would feel good about investing in a product that had its sales volume cut in half over the last 36 months not because of the product not being good, but because of changing market conditions that you don’t necessarily control, new product or not.
Let’s see if I got this right. A car that sold just over 7,000 vehicles last year get a refresh ( the XTS). A car that sold just over 20,000 vehicles last year gets a refresh( the BUICK LACROSSE). A car that sold over 75,000 vehicles last year gets nothing( the CHEVY IMPALA). Sounds like sound business practice to me.
It may actually help the Impala. If you differentiate the Lacrosse from the Impala with a different transmission and refreshes, you could offer the Impala for longer at a lower cost. If you get Lacrosse to sell 30,000 units next year, without impacting Impala – it actually helps make the case for more Impalas to be built as a low-cost vehicle.
This is similar to the calculations Chrysler is making to keep producing the 300 as-is for a few more years. The Dodge Charger may actually become more advanced than the 300, depending on how they implement at the manufacturing side.
Depends on how these cars are being sold and what the forecast is for the future. Some questions to ponder:
– Is the Impala selling mostly to daily rental fleets? If so, it’s a definite red light on any continued development work, refresh or overhaul/redesign
– What’s the profitability of the Impala compared to the LaX?
– What’s the forecast for the Impala as it relates to the LaX, in light of the profitability question
We don’t know the answers to these… but if the Impala isn’t getting the love (either as part of a refresh or a redesign), then the answers to those questions are not very positive.
I understand the simple fact that crossover sales have devastated sedan sales. I should know; I traded in my 08′ Lucerne V-8 CXS for a 14′ Enclave Premium 4.5 years ago. I think GM has done a good job with the 17′-18′ Lacrosse models. However very few people in the South are aware of this model. Matter of fact half of the Lacrosse’s I see around here are tourists from the Midwest. (Same for the Impala). GM refuses to advertise or market the Lacrosse and Impala in the South.
Since GM has invested many, many millions in developing both of these fine models, why not take it a step further. The Buick Lacrosse Avenir should have a 3.6 Liter TTC V-6 (395HP/375TRQ) standard. And the Impala should have an SS Version with 400HP/380TRQ and a 9 speed Automatic . Then maybe with some decent advertising and promotion GM would reverse the steep decline in sales. Hell, it would be a much better deal for the consumer than a KIA Stinger. And tell Cadillac to keep their grubby hands off Buick.
Chevy Malibu is not the car for me. It’s the Impala . Still offered with a V6 and no start stop.
The exterior changes look interesting. The interior must be addressed. The seats are cheap and do not retain their original shape after a short period. I came to this conclusion after watching many car reviews and seeing the seat somewhat distorted and not recovering its shape after a brief time. To me this means poor seat design, cheap padding and a mediocre quality of leather. Look at the new Insignia and notice the distinct differences in seat design. America is getting cheaper, flatter, non supportive seats while GM Europe gets the good stuff. For the Lacrosse to be a sales success it must offer a much nicer interior, including a nicer more upscale steering wheel, shifter, gauges etc. Give it some additional power out of the V6 to distinguish the Lacrosse from all the others using the powerplant and at the Avenir level include all the options in the price. The selection of colors is also very limited and needs to be expanded. Do all of this and this sedan will sell.