The Buick Avenir sub-brand was announced in 2016 and launched for the 2018 model year, tasked with reinforcing Buick’s luxury offerings with new range-topping models. However, these days Avenir is looking as though it’s been forgotten in North America.
Back when it was first announced, the Buick Avenir sub-brand was cast in a similar light as Denali for GMC, with high-end trims leading the way forward with top-shelf features and sumptuous luxury.
“Through the first half of 2016, Buick has been the industry’s fastest-growing major international brand, and Avenir is key to future growth and delivering on the high expectations of new customers coming to our showrooms,” said VP of Global Buick Sales, Service and Marketing, Duncan Aldred, during the announcement of the Buick Avenir sub-brand. “Avenir will be Buick’s signature. The highest expression of the luxury experiences we’re delivering now and in the future.”
The first model lines to launch Buick Avenir were the Buick LaCrosse and Buick Enclave, followed by the Buick Regal. The Regal Avenir hit the scene with a 3D-mesh grille, 19-inch wheels, unique badging, diamond-quilted leather seats, and a new interior color theme, as well as Buick’s latest infotainment system, an eight-speaker Bose stereo, and a host of other luxury items.
The Chinese-market Buick Enclave Avenir would follow with a new diamond-pattern grille treatment, Wine Merlot paint, and 21-inch wheels, plus a new interior treatment as well. Most recently, the Chinese-market GL8 Avenir debuted with similar upgrades inside and our, highlighted by a new dash and dual 12.3-inch infotainment screen setup, plus new seating configurations for added space and comfort.
However, now that the Buick LaCrosse has been discontinued in North America (with the Buick Regal soon to follow), the only Buick Avenir model that remains standing on these shores is the Enclave.
We spoke with Buick Communications Manager Stuart Fowle back in November of 2019 about the prospect of offering a Buick Encore GX Avenir sometime in the future, to which he replied, “Nothing to announce today. We’re always looking at options for where Avenir goes next, and it’s been really successful in the Enclave in particular.”
Meanwhile, the Buick Envision is set to receive a refresh for the 2021 model year, which may possibly bring a new Avenir trim level. In addition, the upcoming Buick Envision S / Enspire model should also offer an Avenir trim level.
If that pans out, there will be three Buick Avenir models in North America, and six in China:
North America
- Envision
- Envision S / Enspire
- Enclave
China
- LaCrosse
- Regal
- Envision
- Envision S / Inspire
- Enclave GL8
Should GM offer additional Buick Avenir models in North America? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and make sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more Buick news and ongoing GM news coverage.
Comments
Avenir cant get to nice, as to not encroach on Cadillac. Already does in some aspects.
Cadillac Matt
GM’s brands have always competed against one another.
that reminds me of the old adage : if you can’t beat any of the kids at school, go home and beat your little brother.
steve
Worked for Venus & Serena Williams.
Let’s face it, Buick is a Chinese brand now. There’s really nothing left of the Buick most of us knew in the past. There’s only one American Buick left and honestly it’s just a rebody of a Traverse.
Buick doesn’t need to relaunch Avenir, they need to relaunch Buick itself or just withdraw entirely from the US market. Would anybody miss the Chinese-built Envision? The Korean Encore? Regal and Cascada, also foreign-sourced, are gone or on their way out. LaCrosse is dead. There’s really nothing left. Go to the homepage of Buick’s US website. They show three SUVs; that’s it.
I really don’t understand what Mary Barra is trying to do to GM. Even under her grand triple zero plan, I haven’t heard about Buick getting much love. They’ve paired the company down to three divisions (Chevrolet, Buick-GMC, Cadillac) and then eliminated many of products from those divisions. Elsewhere on GMA, there’s an article about an old Riviera for sale. Those were the days when Buick was a US brand with lots to offer consumers and a solid, up-level reputation. It’s quite sad to me how GM just keeps shrinking into less and less of a force.
Would anyone miss the Envision? Roughly 30k are sold in a year so yes. Would anyone miss Encore? Yes as around 100k are sold a year.
Buick sells around 200k+ vehicles a year in the USA. That’s not a bad amount for a premium brand. If you don’t understand their placement in the lineup then stick with your basic Chevy and move along.
You wonder why the Riviera is not sold anymore? Sedans sales have tanked so what do you want the brand to do, make products no one wants? So many on here cry about the sedans going away, yet how many of you put your money where your mouth is?
Guy,
Buick may sell 200,000 vehicles but they’re 200,000 bland, boring products that could be bought elsewhere. They used to say Buick built cars for old people which I’ve always thought was fine. My grandfather ought to have a car he likes that appeals to him; not every driver out there is a Millennial. Today though, Buick builds vehicles for no one really. They’re not premium anymore, which I think is the point of this post. They’re just somewhat generic CUVs that are truly nothing special. The Enclave is more unique than the Opel-based imports from China and Korea but its largely a Traverse under the skin. Who needs any of them? Who really “wants” any of them? Does anybody have a burning desire to own a Buick anymore? Does anybody think a Buick is special anymore? Yes, a few people buy them but I’d argue they’d be just as happy with a Nissan Rogue over a Buick Envision. Happier actually.
That’s not to say I’m advocating for Buick to go away. They really already have as I see it. I’m suggesting instead that Buick needs a total revamp with authentic products (not Korean-made Opel Mokkas) designed by Americans and built for The Great American Road. Obviously though, GM does not care about Americans, young or old, as Buick customers. They’re focused on China and America gets the spoils. If that’s the best they can do, they might as well let Buick die like they’ve done with Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Saturn, and Hummer.
I used to think Roger B. Smith was a horrible CEO that did great damage to the mighty GM but I’m beginning to see that ole’ Roger might not have been so bad. The destruction coming today is just as bad or worse than in his era. Cadillac is in shambles as is Buick and even GM’s cash cow pickups struggle to keep up with Chrysler….that’s Chrysler which used to be perennially behind GM in everything.
What does GM really have that leads? I’m sure the hands will go up and say the Corvette. Alright, I agree with that one. What else? The Tahoe and it’s platform mates. Okay, they’re good too. And then?
GM used to be the best in pretty much every category with five brands that had top-notch products for every kind of buyer from first time to last time. There’s nothing at the entry level anymore and there are no products for the old timers anymore. The GM lineup keeps getting thinner and thinner and no where is that more evident than at Buick. As for those 200,000 units sold; it’s important to put that number in context. Twenty years ago Buick sold more than double that quantity with over 400,00 Buicks sold in 2001 and then a bit over 20 years before that, in 1978, you can double that number again as Buick sold roughly 800,000 units in the US.
Like I said, Buick needs a total revamp, not just the Avenir sub-brand. Either that or just export everything Buick related and all their staff to China and be done with it. And when they’re packing up, I suggest they take Mary with them.
Very well said!
Ci2eye
Your Wrong!
So because you don’t personally like current Buick’s GM should just shelve the division and lose 200K in sales? People who buy Buick probably won’t get a Chevy if Buick were gone. There is a reason to have divisions who target different cliental, it’s is far more streamlined than in the past when GM had more.
Either way your opinion that obviously some 200K shoppers a year disagree with.
There are No divisions at GM anymore. They closed all of the original companies before the 50’s and turned them into Motor Divisions to consolidate. Then going into the 80’s they permanently closed all of the Divisions to consolidate further and became what we have today, One GM. Names like Buick are purely for marketing purposes. They could stick any name they wanted to on there (and they do).
No doubt in my my mind they will have to consolidate further to survive long term. Especially after this pandemic and all that goes with it politically between countries. My hunch is they’ll roll Chevrolet & Cadillac into one single entity and possibly keep GMC as their Jeep type variant to go with it.
If GM were smart, they would drop the Envision. There will be a tremendous backlash against China for the COVID 19 situation that is destroying our economy. IMHO, that vehicle with its dated styling and tech should never have been brought here in the first place.
Is everyone going to stop buying iPhones because they are made in China? I doubt it.
GM brought it here to fill a gap in the lineup and it has resulted in around thirty thousand sales a year. So that is why they brought it here. What is so dated with it’s styling and tech? I think it actually looks pretty good.
I put my $ into sedans! 2011 re-intro Buick Regal arguably the best year of the latest 10 year & done run of the Regal line. 2011 had TWO models, Turbo & a weak worthless engine which they wisely dumped. Then in typical GM clueless fashion they got cutesy & added half a dozen different versions each year instead of concentrating on one or two variations. VP Duncan Alfred & Stuart Fowler are a disgraceful pair of clueless “Executives” & should RESIGN immediately for decimating the long long fine history of Buick SEDANs. Pathetic.
Buick= GEO Division of the 2000s
I wish this happened, and produced the Buick Avista Avenir – a coupe for the Alpha II platform with an N/A V8 and a manual. *Sighs*
AWD EV-Avista would have been great as well!
Buick itself needs a relaunch. They have the same three vehicles in different sizes. They need something to differentiate themselves.
They had one. The Buick Regal Sport. German Performance & Style to appeal to the UNDER 60 consumer buying the overpriced status mobiles from Germany. The Execs in the big ugly Ivory Tower in Detroit FAILED Buick. Not surprised if the Brand goes away entirely like Obama requested in the conditions for the GM bailout- Cadillac & Chevy ONLY. But the previous CEO fought hard to save Buick. Only to have his clueless descendants Barra & Company run Buick into the ground.
buick needs to get in line. cadillac has been using the relaunch pad for the past 20 years and will need it for another 20.
M Barra is a success.
A grand success.
She’s successfully destroying GM.
Buick is truly lost in terms of its identity within the American market. I agree that it has basically become a modern Chinese brand.
Avenir is a weak enhancement of the brand.
GM is basically counting the days until they believe that they can succeed with electrics.
Until then it does not appear that they even want to continue investing in new products with internal combustion engines.
Exception being the new Corvette.
They’re jumping the gun on electrics.
They don’t even seem to be interested in catering to those customers that would like to see further development and Improvement in their gas powered vehicles.
Except of course pickup trucks.
GM needs to work on a few things with regard to electrics in order to truly make them mainstream and a strong source of profits.
-Make Electrics cheaper than the competition and yet offer greater value.
-Contribute towards a vast network of charging stations. You should be able to charge your vehicle at any gas station.
-Design and build Electrics that can be charged within 10 minutes to 90%.
-Extended warranties that cover batteries and charging system
It’s difficult to say whether an Avenir sub-brand would work given that most of the vehicles sold by Buick are crossovers and not cars as the Avenir brand would be no different than GMC’s Denali subbrand which is essentially a fully option variant with some custom tweaks; although it might be different if Buick was allowed to bring the Avenir production car to production.
As I read all the above comments as well as the article, I just have to disagree with most of the comments. I drive a Buick. I have two in fact. They are both very high quality vehicles and run circles around most other brands/models out there. Buick is extremely competitive and the issue is being starved for product. Yes, Buick must have the Avenir trim for every model they sell. Period. But Buick needs a car (should have just kept the Regal even if just a redesigned Malibu) to go along with the crossover line. Buick also need a 2 dr even if it’s not a huge seller. I don’t care if they made a Buick Riviera (or whatever great name they would place on it) built off the Camaro. That show car they made (the dark blue one a few years ago) was from the Camaro platform and it looked beautiful! They can use Chevy platforms, just be sure it has the better quality checks in place and a style/interior that is Buick 100%. Give them the better Buick warranty. Give them the better Buick treatment. Then offer every model in the lineup with the Avenir trim.
Dan,
If I were guessing, I’d bet you don’t drive a 2020 Buick like an Envision or Encore. My comments above about no one really having a burning desire to own a Buick are in the context of today and what they’ll soon be left with down at the Buick store. In the past, it was an entirely different story. They had, even fairly recently, some good products. They weren’t what they used to be but the situation was not as dire as now and what’s upcoming. I am speaking of this era, not the past. A Buick future with only three CUVs; one from the US, one from China, and one from Korea is pretty bleak. They might as well throw in the proverbial towel.
@Ci2Eye: You are not correct. I drive a 2018 Encore and it’s been and still is one of the best vehicles I’ve ever owned. I sell Mazda and Volvo now for a living and can tell you 100% with certainty that I would take my Encore over anything from Mazda. It’s better than most of the Volvo’s as well. It’s just a very good vehicle. The other is a high miles 2006 Lucerne CXL. That car is still competitive with many cars out there today. I’d pick that over the 2020 Volvo S90 in terms of quiet, ride, power and even looks. No matter how you look at it, Buick is very competitive with all other brands out there.
Mark Reuss said going all electric gives GM the chance to rethink and reinvent all of their brands. So if Cadillac gets yet another chance, Buick, which was the cornerstone of GM, deserves one too.
I appreciate many of the comments here. Buick is the one brand at General Motors that really matters to me, and I will always regard Buick as the heart and soul of GM. There are four Buicks in my garage at home. For me, it is heartbreaking to witness GM’s continuing neglect of the brand and failure to invest in new product for the American market. And, even with Buick’s dwindling lineup of vehicles, what happened to the marketing and advertising? . . . Whenever I see television or online advertising for Hyundai, Genesis, Lexus, Audi, etc., I am baffled why GM makes so little effort to market long-established Buick — a brand that has a great dealer network, an enviable reputation for quality, and, I believe, a loyal base of fans who keep hoping that GM will give them a reason to return to their Buick dealers.
I feel once all GM Brands go full EV’s it will be much easier for GM to Differentiate all of their Brands.
Right now everyone in the Media lets say always makes fun of GM for using so called Chevy engines and Transmissions in Cadillac vehicles. They will not be able to do so in the Future.
I think once each Brand starts to get their EV’s in their lineup we will finally see GM’s Brand Strategy see the Light.
This is my opinion or vision per say….
Cadillac – Will have the absolute best and newest Technology with the Most Performance as a Luxury maker. Bold Design inside and out.
Buick – Will be second to Cadillac in Tech but be based more on Luxury and flowing Design inside and out. I think all their EV’s will utilize Air Suspension for nice Cushy rides to set them Apart. Where Cadillac will use Air Suspension for Sporty Handling and Luxury Balance.
GMC – Will wear two Hats sort of. It will still make Pickup Trucks for the Masses but will specialize in much more Luxurious accommodations than Chevrolet. Some of their Models (Hummer Mostly) will be the American Land Rover
Chevrolet – Will be what VW is turning into. The Every persons Brand for EV’s. Give the people what they need and then a little more so for a very competitive Cost. And I think eventually Chevrolet (excluding Some Sierra Models) might be left as the only GM Brand that will continue to offer Niche Vehicles that will utilize ICE engines. I think the LS Engine will be around for a while and will be the last ICE engine that GM will get rid of. It will be in Silverado, Tahoe, Suburban, Camaro, and Vette.
Albeit due to Regulations it will probably be a Pricey option by then.
That is my theory into the Future vision of what GM will become.
What to buy?
We used to drive Grand Prix’s. When Pontiac was killer, we tried a Malibu, then switch to Buick Regal’s. We have had two. We currently drive a Lacrosse and a CTS. The ’15 Lacrosse is the most comfortable, best riding, best driving, best car we have ever owned. We also have a Sierra 2500HD. With the Lacrosse, Regal, and CTS gone, we have no idea what we will buy next. It won’t be a SUV/CUV or an electric. That leaves a Malibu or a CT whatever they call it this year. The CT5 is out of our price range/desires and we don’t want a Malibu. A new Sierra is also out of our price range now. The Malibu is a good car, but we want something a little more upscale.
Oh, for the Avista!
Well put Hose! The Buick Brand of upscale yet affordable slots perfectly in between the high end unaffordable for most Caddy Brand & the “for the masses” Chevy Brand. The current GM Hierarchy in that Ivory Tower in Detroit have destroyed this historic Brand (probably by design) that even the bloody Chinese adopted through their once Ruling Emperor.
As a former GM Dealer(26 yrs), I have to disagree with you..I owned 3 GM dealerships and was heartbroken when they killed Oldsmobile, then Pontiac..we started in the mid-80s and we were killin’ it for years..amazing sales in Buicks, but in later years the slide began. When they killed the Park Avenue, it was over. I went to A Chevrolet-only dealership and always wished we had Buick also. My wife had 6 Equinoxes in a row and they were great but when we got ready to replace the last one, wanted a bit more room and was planning to get a new Blazer..tried a Blazer, Traverse, and Enclave..they all came in at about the same $ but the Buick rode better , the dash is beautiful, and I felt that the seats seemed a bit more comfortable. When it’s time to replace it, I will probably go Buick again. Buick’s sales slippage can be blamed directly on GM..they quit promoting Buicks for a long time, just as they did with OLDS and Pontiac and bringing fresh product to market. They are not exciting but neither are any SUVs/Crossovers, but look at the trend today…booooring . I think Buick will survive all this if GM gets their heads out of their collective asses. THOUGHTS OF A CRAZY IRISHMAN.
I really appreciate your perspective here, Denis. And I must agree that the sales slippage can be blamed directly on GM. GM and the media will love to say that the car-buying public simply lost interest in the Buick brand. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that GM simply lost interest in the Buick brand. It’s infuriating to watch this company continue to kill once-great automotive brands.
I currently drive a 2019 Chrysler Pacifica Limited.
I would like a Buick Avenir minivan with Super Cruise.
GM held on to the WRONG division (( the Hell with CHINA )) Pontiac or Oldsmobile had better styling and attracted younger buyers and sold more units
Simply not true. Olds sales were way down when it was canceled — far below Buick sales. Pontiac had decent sales volume, but the lineup had become largely rebadges of Chevrolets, and 44% of Pontiac sales volume was destined for low margin fleet sales. GM’s analysis at the time of the 2009 bankruptcy showed that Buick remained profitable in the USA, and consumer clinics revealed that the public perceptions of Buick were much more favorable than Pontiac’s.
AND the Obama bailout crew called the shots. Get rid of ALL GM brands except Chevy & Cadillac and we’ll give you the $$. The previous CEO fought hard to retain Buick and was successful. The current crop of GM big shots could care less. Apparently they’re well on the way to Chevy & Cadillac ONLY.
Things were a lot better when there was competition amongst the divisions of general motors now everything either gets a Corvette engine or an Impala chassis…. it is unfortunate that general motors has to try to find its way after all these years, I do realize that other companies pretty much do the same thing it’s that general motors was sloppy about it and as I always say they could build the best cars in the world but it’s a methods that are just so sloppy and disorganized getting rid of models that possibly could sell or make a big Buick look like an Impala it’s a shame but down the road grab still find their way and maybe who knows the avenir model line will make a comeback here in this country..it was great hearing the times of the pony car wars and each division made its own engine guys like John DeLorean where defide the norm….. The years when Pontiac and Chevrolet and buehler we’re building incredibly strong engines fast cars… I don’t know what’s going to happen I guess only time will tell.
UP GRADES IN ANY GM PRODUCT SEAT TO FIT THE AVERAGE 5 FOOT TEN MALE ALLOWING THE SEAT TO SUPPORT THE LOWER THIGH AND KNEE BEND WOULD BE A GREAT BOON TO DRIVERS WHO DRIVE LONG TRIPS AND NEED THE COMFORT OF THAT SUPPORT !