Buick had a rough second fiscal quarter, with the automaker’s sales falling 56 percent to just 28,929 units. But while Buick struggled to move metal, the vehicles that it did sell carried relatively high average transaction prices, offsetting some of the pain from sliding sales numbers.
Buick ATPs stood at $38,214 in July 2022, up 5.8 percent year-over-year from $36,111 and up 2.9 percent from $37,131 in June of this year. Incentive spending at Buick was also down a significant 79.4 percent throughout Q2, falling to an average of just $1,077 per vehicle, as GM prioritized profits over raw sales figures. Demand for new vehicles remains high at the moment as automakers struggle to replenish new vehicle supply due to the semiconductor chip shortage, which has reduced incentive spending and contributed to rising ATPs across the industry.
Sales of the Buick Encore GX were down the most in Q2, falling 65.37 percent year-over-year in Q2 from 26,244 units to just 9,089 units. The Buick Encore saw the lowest decline, falling 43.23 percent from 15,096 units to 7,885 units. Sales of the Enclave stood at 7,885 units, down 47.77 percent year-over-year, while Envision sales were down 56.31 percent to 6,738 units. Buick will discontinue the subcompact Encore crossover after the 2022 model year and will use the extra capacity at its Bupyeong plant in South Korea to expand Trailblazer production. The automaker is also plotting Buick’s first U.S.-market EV, which is expected to launch in 2024 as a 2025 model-year vehicle.
GM’s average transaction price across all four of its brands in July stood at $51,193, up 3.8 percent year-over-year from $49,337 and up 1.8 percent from $50,289 in June 2022. Buick had the lowest ATPs of GM’s four brands for the month, with Cadillac the highest at $70,603, followed GMC at $58,368 and Chevrolet at $47,945. Buick lacks a pricy full-size truck or SUV model like GM’s three other brands, which is the main contributing factor to the brand’s lower ATPs.
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Comments
Does Barra have a plan, other than Avenir, for Buick North America? These transaction prices are low compared to the rest of industry, no better than Honda, but Buick is a “premium” brand topping many lists for quality. Reminds me if Volvo: Safe, well-made, boring to average American.
New design language won’t help. It’s blah with Seeker looking finer than stablemate Envista. GM needs to steal a strong brand manager, consider selling more than CUVs and build a Lexus fighter brand.
Everyone knows that brand and price alone determine what is luxury. Like, Buick Encore is a rebadged Chevy Trax, wagon version of the Chevy Cruze.