mobile-menu-icon
GM Authority

Pre-Production Of All-New Buick Electra E5 Begins In China

Just days after the global debut of the all-new Buick Electra E5 in China, General Motors has officially announced that it has started pre-production of the all-new, all-electric Buick crossover in the Asian country.

The automaker announced the start of pre-production of the all-new Buick Electra E5 on December 28th at the new SAIC-GM Wuhan Ultium plant in China, otherwise known as the Wuhan Ultium Center, marking another milestone in its ambitious push for all-electric Ultium-powered vehicles for the Chinese market. Simultaneously, the GM joint venture also celebrated the opening of the redesigned Wuhan complex to manufacture upcoming electric vehicles from Buick and Chevrolet.

New SAIC-GM Wuhan Ultium plant

The first Buick Electra E5 to roll off the production lines of the SAIC-GM Wuhan Ultium plant is a silver-colored model in the range-topping trim. The model is destined for the final phase of validation (testing) in China. With this milestone, GM begins the countdown to the official launch of the first member of Buick’s zero-emission Electra family in China.

Notably, the all-new Buick Electra E5 is the first vehicle from the Tri-Shield brand to be based on the BEV3 platform and use Ultium Battery pack and Ultium Drive propulsion technology. As such, the Electra E5 ushers in a next era of mobility for Buick, while debuting the brand’s new corporate image as well as cutting-edge technologies, including a next-generation Virtual Cockpit system and an updated version of the Super Cruise semi-autonomous driving system.

GM also revealed that the new Buick Electra E5 will adopt local battery solutions tailored for the Chinese market, including such qualities as high thermal stability, low levels of degradation and long life of Ultium Battery modules. With an advanced battery management system and the latest protection technologies, the Electra E5 was designed to offer higher levels of safety and reliability that will lead the electric vehicle category in the Chinese market.

The all-new Buick Electra E5 will officially launch in the Chinese market during the first quarter of the 2023 calendar year, and deliveries are scheduled to start shortly thereafter. In addition to assembling all units of the Electra E5 for the local market, the SAIC-GM Wuhan Ultium plant is also in charge of manufacturing the battery pack and drive units for the crossover.

Subscribe to GM Authority as we bring you the latest Buick Electra E5 newsBuick Electra newsBuick news, and ongoing GM news coverage.

[nggallery id=1264]

Deivis is an engineer with a passion for cars and the global auto business. He is constantly investigating about GM's future products.

Subscribe to GM Authority

For around-the-clock GM news coverage

We'll send you one email per day with the latest GM news. It's totally free.

Comments

  1. Sad to see a new Buick copying a three year old Escape design. Guess they don’t sell the Escape in China.

    Reply
    1. A lot of crossover/hatchback things look very similar.

      Reply
  2. “the new Buick Electra E5 will adopt local battery solutions tailored for the Chinese market, including such qualities as high thermal stability, low levels of degradation and long life of Ultium Battery modules”

    Wonder if that means LFP chemistry.

    Reply
  3. Looks good, I hope they get the bugs out of it before this country is mandated to be all Evs. I just don’t see these things working in the north, snow and ice, salt,rust. Electric grid going off line more often not less as we have just had another bad storm roll across the country. Buffalo buried in snow, no power for days all over. People in office are idiots, this will not work for a lot of us.

    Reply
  4. It’s funny that it comes from Wuhan since the car looks like its wearing a mask……

    Reply
  5. It looks nothing like a Buick or near premium vehicle. Something about it screams Toyota but I assume GM is trying to chase WV with this restrained design. Maybe a new identity will aid Buick in US but I doubt it. Envision is the best Buick crossover I’ve seen and should have been the design benchmark.

    Reply
  6. I think this Electra E5 is a handsome utility vehicle and hope it comes to NA ( built here) quickly. While it is a conservative style, that is what sells. I do not see any Toyota or Honda influence here , to me the body profile has more of a first generation Equinox look , even first generation Envision !
    I live in Canada, and I got to say I see a lot of Tesla cars and Chevy Bolts . The winter weather does not seem to bother them.
    I read some owner reviews from last winter and the Bolt does not seem to loose their charge in the cold weather like the Fords, The range is reduced maybe by 20% in the very cold weather. Some reviews I have read has the Ford Lightening at 50% loss in colder weather.
    For sure electrics will continue to develop , but it was the same for ICE in the 40’s. 50’s 60’s and so on to today. Look at the small turbo engines producing more hp than 5L V8’s of 10-15 yeas ago.
    Electrics are here to stay and for most people, when they embrace the technology, there will be no looking back!

    Reply
    1. Kirk, agreed with you 100% on the battery technology will be improved and develop at time goes by, the same go with the charging infrastructure, the people that complain about it make it sound like EV will be completely take over the ICE vehicle in a couple of years, my guess is ICE vehicles will be available for purchase for the next 10 to 15 years, fact is many of the EV haters may not live long enough to see what they don’t want to see.

      Reply
      1. Agree 100% we will continue to have ICE vehicles likely to 2040 and beyond .There will also be a play with Hydrogen fuel cells as well as EVs!!

        Reply
  7. I keep waiting for the announcement that GM is moving its headquarters to China.

    Reply
  8. Why does GM show so much concern for China? I don’t see China helping the US at all.

    Reply
    1. Simple economics, Gary! China is the largest car market in the world. Has little to do with anything else. And to your comment that China does not help the US at all…take a look around at all of the items and technology that we use every single day. Nearly every part of our lives is somehow touched by Chinese-made products and you probably don’t even know it. TVs, phones, appliances, life-saving tech in hospitals, food. I don’t understand why people fail to acknowledge that important fact. I am not Asian. This is not a politically based, right or left wing comment. AND several members of my family were/are GM employees…& I have sold GMs for years.
      It makes me chuckle when I read all of these GM bashing, angry comments from all of the same one track minded, old school thinkers who believe that only their way of thinking is the correct way.
      And I agree with M that many of the haters who have never even opened their minds to the future ideas won’t be around to worry about it or to spew their rhetoric. ICE cars went through the same type of ignorant scrutiny during its humble beginnings. That generation just didn’t get the pleasure of having to put up with that ignorance in their daily lives due to the lack of social media and today’s keyboard warriors.

      Reply
  9. Question. I own a 2022 CT4 Blackwing Stick shift. How many Stick Shift CT4 V Blackwing were produced in 2022? Thanks

    Reply
  10. Why on all EV’s the door handles are shaved. I don’t believe that four small stubs with a real handle you can grab with gloves on affects wind resistance. As long as real handles are on truck based vehicles, I’ll continue to buy them.

    Reply
  11. The Chinese market is larger it makes sense to focus so much of their resources there.

    Reply
  12. As we all know, only good things come out of Wuhan…

    Reply

Leave a comment

Cancel