The only reason General Motors decided to keep the Buick brand around following its bankruptcy restructuring in 2009 was due to the brand’s popularity in the world’s largest automotive market – China.
Now it seems as though China will be the main focus of Buick, with its North American lineup set to be more aligned with what it’s offering in China going forward.
Speaking to Automotive News, Buick ‘s vice president of marketing Phil Brook explained that “Buick is a big, big player in China,” and that he believes “there’s no doubt that’s going to be true for a long time to come.” For that reason, it makes sense for GM to “leverage some models” for the two markets, he said.
Many vehicles currently offered by Buick in China wouldn’t make much sense in North America, like the Excelle and Weilang compact cars, for example, but some of Buick China’s future products may align perfectly with North American tastes.
Buick is believed to be working on an electric crossover for China inspired by the Enspire concept, which could eventually make its way to North America. Hybrid vehicles developed by General Motors/Buick with China in mind could one day be sold in the United States and Canada as well.
“It would be difficult to get a Buick electric vehicle program like that up and running just for the U.S. market as we sit here today,” Brook told AN. “But certainly down the track we’ve got great options because of the need in China.”
Buick Enspire Concept
Buick already sells a plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle in China, the Velite 6 PHEV and Velite 6 EV, although the Velite 6 was designed with Chinese consumers in mind and is likely not suitable for North American consumers.
With the planned discontinuation of the Buick Cascada and LaCrosse this year, Buick’s North American car portfolio is set to shrink to the Regal and its variants. The rest of its lineup consists of crossovers – the Enclave, Envision and Encore. The brand may be in need of some additional product in coming years, then, so hopefully any shared products with China that may be in the pipe will arrive sooner rather than later.
(source: Automotive News)
Comments
Can’t wait to see more Chinese vehicles imported into the U.S. Good to see GM is leading the charge. Outsource design, engineering, and manufacturing to low cost countries. This can only mean bigger bonuses for Barra and her crew.
Sharing vehicles doesn’t mean it has to be built in China. There’s a lot of money to be saved if you design one car for 2 markets with little to no changes outside of manufacturing facility.
Thats what they want you to think
Who’s ‘they’?
The days of building specialty models for a niche market are over as no one can afford it given the R&D and manufacturing cost; sharing common vehicles will allow General Motors to save tens of $Billions.
Since when did the United States become a “niche” market for GM? If that’s the case they can have my “niche” business!
He didn’t even say the US was a niche market. Are you blind?
The totality of the US auto market is made up of several different markets that automakers offer products within. Some are lucrative (pickups, CUV’s), some are contracting (sedans), some are growing (EV’s), and some are niche (large coupes).
When omegatalon says the “building specialty models for a niche market”, he means that GM can’t afford to make a single niche product for a single market (be it China, the US, or elsewhere) and expect to recoup their development costs within 4 or 5 years.
How you managed to distort that to suit your own narrative is beyond me.
Does that mean the Volt doesn’t really die since the Buick version do well in China?.
I’ll take an Enspire EV, if they build it here with 250+ miles EPA range and 150kW charging. Ideally with a tiny 3rd row for those rare days I need to bring my kids’ friends home after school.
Sometimes sharing vehicles with other markets works out just fine, and sometimes it doesn’t. The Buick Encore was not designed with the NA market in mind, it was China/Asia. They decided to try it here, and it worked. It’s good enough there and also here. The Cadillac CT6 exists because the business model in China was strong enough to approve production. There, it’s good enough (to continue being made) and here it’s been an also ran and is being dropped. The new Cadillac XT6, a lot of people are disappointed that it doesn’t have more power or a more upscale interior? Part of the reason is…….GM feels like it’s good enough for China, the #1 market for Cadillac branded vehicles.
China is a different market than here or Europe. It’s still emerging as a vehicle market, many consumers simply don’t know any better? They don’t demand better or class leading vehicles. Chinese people are also smaller people in general and some vehicles that end up here reflect that in the design, specifically the seats.
You can use the overall architecture of a vehicle but change engine choices, interior material, etc… for very little cost – GM is an expert at that. The XT6 is a good example of GM not going far enough to differentiate it from its stablemates. It’s a nice vehicle for people that like Cadillac, but don’t want an Escalade. But for others, you could choose an Enclave or Acadia and get 95% of the same vehicle. But that’s a big difference than designing an entire vehicle from the ground up.
The problem with the CT6 wasn’t it as a vehicle, but the overall large sedan market – it’s dead. The CT6 should have been an all-electric sedan.