As GM Authority previously reported back in February 2023, the Buick Envision was unavailable to be ordered with its Premium Seat Package. Now, General Motors has issued two customer satisfaction programs to reimburse the owners of affected Envision units who had already paid for the features before they were constrained.
Covering both the 2022 and 2023 model years of the Buick Envision, these reimbursements are for the following seat features (relevant program number in parenthesis):
- Driver four-way power lumbar and four-way front passenger power lumbar (N232399101)
- Reimbursement – $200
- Driver massage and four-way power lumbar, four-way front passenger power lumbar seat features (N232399102)
- Reimbursement – $350
For reference, affected Envision units were unavailable to be ordered with the Premium Seat Package (RPO code Y55), which included the following (relevant RPO codes listed in parentheses):
- Driver 4-way power lumbar seat (AVK)
- Front passenger 4-way power lumbar seat (AVU) (included for Essence and Avenir trims only, but not the Preferred trim)
- Driver seat massage (AF6) (included for Avenir only, but not Preferred or Essence)
It’s worth noting that there was never a retrofit offered for affected units.
As a reminder, the upcoming 2024 Buick Envision is set to receive a mid-cycle refresh that will bring updates to the exterior styling and interior features. Production of the refreshed model is currently scheduled to kick off on October 30th, 2023.
Leaked photos of the refreshed Buick Envision in China.
In regard to the current model, the 2023 Buick Envision is offered with a single powerplant, the turbocharged 2.0L I4 LSY gasoline engine, which is rated at 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. Envision units are equipped with the GM nine-speed automatic transmission and a front-wheel drivetrain as standard, while AWD is available as an option.
Under the body panels, the 2023 Envision rides on the GM E2 platform. Production takes place exclusively at the GM Jinqiao plant in Shanghai, China.
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Comments
Is the reimbursement in yen or fortune cookies?
Why would they reimburse in Japanese money or an American invention?
If the selling dealer is responsible for reimbursing the customer, good luck with that.
The dealer will process it, minus a document fee.
When is GM going to start making 100 percent vehicles out the door????
They will just make the “constrained” options only available in higher trims and charge more for them.
If Made in China didn’t stop you from buying, not having massage in a Buick of all things would have been a deal breaker.
I’m pretty sure that GM makes more money if they can build complete vehicles to start rather than to retrofit. Retrofitting at the dealer level is probably most expensive, but even parking a partial build on the back 40 and then going out to refit the parts as they come in usually costs more. I know that Flint Assembly last year had a huge parking lot full of ‘almost ready’ trucks awaiting a part or two. When the parts became available they would pay a few people overtime on a weekend to bring the trucks back into the plant one at a time and add the missing parts.
It is an interesting ‘dance’ planning what parts can be easily added after the fact so they can build a ‘shy’ vehicle, versus those missing parts which realistically cause the plant to have to wait until the parts come in before starting the build. The workers also suffer a bit because often they don’t know if they have Saturday work until about 48 hours before that workday.
Yen is the Japanese currency. Yuan is the Chinese currency (also called renminbi). Fortune cookies are an American invention. I have been in Chinese restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing and never been offered a fortune cookie.
Or they could just charge them a subscription fee to use what they don’t have! (sarcasm).