General Motors continues to actively refresh its entire Buick product portfolio in China – the brand’s largest volume market – where it just officially introduced the new 2024 Buick Encore Plus.
The automaker’s SAIC-GM joint venture in China has unveiled the all-new 2024 Buick Encore Plus, which is the equivalent of the refreshed 2024 Buick Encore GX, but with a specific new powertrain setup and a name change to give the model a new impetus in the Chinese market. The removal of the ‘GX’ moniker in favor of the Plus suffix had been anticipated late last year with the leak of the Chinese-spec crossover.
While no official explanation has been given for the 2024 Buick Encore Plus’ name change in China, it has a lot to do with the arrival of the all-new Buick Envista and its impact on the brand’s compact crossover offering. It is also very appropriate to note that the Encore GX was never popular in the Chinese market due to its higher positioning and – especially – because of the notable rejection of three-cylinder engines by local customers.
In fact, the main novelty of the new 2024 Buick Encore Plus compared to the previous model and the refreshed 2024 Encore GX sold in North America is the adoption of a stronger powertrain. The 2024 Encore Plus is equipped with a turbocharged 1.5L four-cylinder engine rated at 135 kW or 181 horsepower, along with 250 Nm or 184 pound-feet of torque, mated to a continously variable automatic transmission.
In addition to slight exterior changes compared to the American-market 2024 Encore GX, such as alloy wheel designs, the 2024 Buick Encore Plus’s cabin adopts a new look with brown upholstery and a China-market-specific Virtual Cockpit System. The Encore Plus’s dual-screen module is slightly larger and consists of two 10.25-inch panels, but without the physical power button and volume control knob.
The new 2024 Buick Encore Plus was officially unveiled on August 18th in China and is expected to go on sale in the coming weeks after the official launch event in that country. It’s not yet clear what the exact positioning of the Encore Plus will be, but it’s likely that it will continue to rank above the new Envista. Units for the local market of the Asian country will continue to be manufactured at the GM Dong Yue plant.
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Comments
Make this engine available to the US market with the 9 speed auto.
Totally agree!
Take a good look at that interior…….whaaaaaat! The color pattern is rich and warm and inviting. The tech up level feeling of the dash is impressive. What an awesome place to relax, set up some tunes and just drive. I wanna drive this Buick.
Yeah I won’t buy a car with a CVT I’m in traditional automatic transmission guy
Exterior changes look identical to N America. What is article talking about? Both lack the ridiculous new Envista headlights
That engine needs to come to America, but drop the no-longer-necessary GX moniker first. Plus is OK then.
Why tease us with these articles when we can’t buy them in the US ? China is rejecting these 3 cylinder engines with no power & so do U.S. Americans. Use more gas if we have to pick up speed. Some of us would like an affordable fuel saving vehicle larger than an Encore GX & smaller than a Terrain with more power.
As opposed to non-U.S. Americans?
Actually, the Trailblazer/Encore twins sell very, very well with a 3-cylinder and they can’t build the 3-cylinder Trax fast enough, they sell before they leave the ship. I don’t think the vast majority of buyers care about “only having 3 cylinders” in their cars. If you want larger than an Encore and smaller than the Terrain, that would be the Envista/Trax twins.
I like the looks of this over the Envista.
Well this is frustrating. The Chinese market gets a better engine and interior? But why? I have this cars sibling the Trailblazer. While I get better gas milage than my totalled ’16 Cruze and the engine sounds better, I miss that pep of the Cruze’s turbo 4… So. Much.
GM must be using 3 banger to lower CAFE score of lineup so they don’t need to buy credits like Stellantis from Tesla. I just don’t see this engine as more efficient.
GM has too many powertrains and platforms. They waste money on r&d. The VFF architecture is used on only 4 cars while it was supposed to under pin millions.sa mb e with 3 cylinder engine
The 1.5T actually gets 20% better fuel economy than the crappy 3 cylinder in the same platform!
GM, bring the 4-cylinder with a regular transmission to the united states. Drop the 3-cylinders & CVT’s on all Buicks (Envista & Encore GX). These are supposed to be premium products. Not basic or luxury. The engine offerings hurt the brand image, as a premium brand.
Runaway sales success on this vehicle would say otherwise.
Not really sure where your getting that info? The turbo 1.4L i4 in my Cruze averaged 28miles/gallon. My Trailblazer with the turbo 1.2L i3 averages 32 miles/gallon. Honestly the proformance is negligible, but the Cruze did seem to have more bite.