Buick incentive spending skyrocketed 104 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2023 as sales also surged toward pre-pandemic levels.
As detailed in a Cox Automotive report, the average incentive offered on a new Buick in the USA during Q3 2023 reached $1,968 per vehicle, more than doubling the $964 per vehicle in Q3 2022.
While Buick incentives have increased strongly since last year, they remain half of what they were in Q3 2021, when incentive spending for the brand attained $4,019 per vehicle, and a third of the Q3 2020 figure of $6,007 per vehicle.
The brand’s incentives were also below the overall $2,299 per vehicle averaged out across GM’s four major brands, a figure that was up 56 percent compared to last year. Despite this, sales growth of Buick vehicles outpaced the other three brands in percentage terms, surging to 43,978 units sold, a 54 percent gain over Q3 2022.
The study noted that “Buick is headed back toward its pre-pandemic, pre-chip shortage volume,” with the Buick Encore GX spearheading its recovery as Q3 sales soared 104 percent to 20,060 units. The Buick Enclave gained 34 percent, achieving 10,553 quarterly unit sales, though the UAW strike at the GM Lansing Delta Township plant in Michigan where the Enclave is produced could be a speed bump hampering near-future sales growth for the nameplate.
Sales of other major models are stable or declining. Sales volume of 7,279 units for the Envision was unchanged relative to Q3 last year, while sales of the now-discontinued Encore shrank, dropping 80 percent year-over-year to 701 vehicles. Cox Automotive hasn’t yet started publishing data for the all-new Buick Envista coupe-like crossover.
Turning to the company as a whole, The General not only saw significant incentive increases but also a strong rise in sales. Q3 sales increased 21 percent relative to 2022, reaching 669,199 vehicles.
Incentive spending for GMC rose even faster than Buick’s, climbing 145 percent to $2,567 per vehicle in Q3 2023. Cadillac incentives surged 58 percent to $3,296 per vehicle, while Chevy trailed the other three, with its $2,166 average incentive growing 35 percent.
Incentives continue to rise vigorously across the automotive sector as the industry rebounds from the shocks of COVID-19 and the subsequent chip shortage. GM and its brands are in sync with the trend, with The General now approaching its pre-pandemic market share.
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Comments
That new Envision is gonna need them for sure with that nose on the old body, they don’t match at all.
Back to business as usual, subsidizing Buick here to keep it viable in China. Amh
Did you notice that GMC’s incentives rose 145 percent? Cadillac’s incentives are up 58 percent? And Chevrolet’s incentives are up 35 percent. Or do you only pick on Buick?
So for all those who keep saying that everything needs to be SUV/CUV, I ask why? I ask what these same people will be saying when things get back to the same as they were with the sedans? Bottom line is that you only have to use incentives to keep things moving. Good product that people want to buy need less incentives to sell. It’s obvious that Buick being all SUV is not working with sales that are a pittance of what Buick sales used to be.
I just don’t see what Buick’s path forward really is or what they are for. Who is the customer base they are going for? They are lost and it shows.
Opel were a company heavy into incentives lost GM $25 billions in 2 decades fleet dumping unwanted cars in big batches.into fleet/rental markets. If the they were any good they would sell themselves at a tidy profit to be brutally honest.
Future of Chinese Buick’s is electric BEV’s? Buick is preparing to be an all-electric brand by 2030, a tough ole world is coming over the horizon legislated in by Governments known as net zero, Silverado ICE profits sadly won’t be around forever to pay for other brand incentives bills, due to the legislators GM won’t be able to afford to carry any lames ducks the automotive world is changing sadly.
After receiving pushback from some dealers in 2020, GM offered up to $500,000 in settlements to Cadillac dealers that didn’t want to invest and sell EVs as it geared up for the launch of the Lyriq.
General Motors is doing the same with its Buick dealers as the brand prepares to release its first electric vehicle in the US in 2024 on its way to becoming a fully electric brand by the decade’s end.
Buick China EV September 2023 Chinese Chart Position/Sales
No 279 Buick Electre E5 1,104
No 417 Buick Electre E4 282
No 639 Buick Velite 7 (Chevrolet Bolt EV) 2
General Motors is giving its Buick dealers an ultimatum – invest in the company’s future as it transitions to an all-electric future, or take a buyout. However, with the minimum upfront costs ranging from $300,000 to $400,000, some Buick dealers are apparently taking GM up on its buyout offer, wonder why?
Buick China September BEV sales 1,388 sales is the canary in the mine, looks like Buick’s BEV’s have cracked aced the 25,000,000 Chinese car market, the future is looking bright?
Buick Europe BEV (coming ?)
0 sales
Buick USA BEV (coming 2024)
0 sales
Worldwide Buick future is 1,388 BEV sales at the moment, not good.
Worldwide Governments are legislating in bans on demonising ICE cars, in the days of horse & cart ICE car never got $1 in incentives from taxpayers wallets, there was no legislated ban end date imposed on horse & carts, ICE replace it with it simply because it was the better technology.
Ford openly created a new Model e division for electric cars to see transparently how it was doing. Ford Model e division lost $1.5 billions in 2022 or $27,000 on every EV it sold, Q2 2023 Ford reported they were losing $32,000 on every EV it made, Q3 2023 Ford reported it was losing $36,000 on every EV it made and projected it’s Ford Model e division would lose $4.5 billions on making electric cars in 2023 the more EV’s it makes the greater the losses.
GM/Honda themselves have abandoned plans to move more upmarket more cheap affordable EV’s because they would be hoping to catch those ICE driving ex Audi, BMW & Mercedes Benz bottom of the range base model wallets, sadly they would be making losses on that till the battery tech prices come down in the future a bit more.
Simply put sad can’t expect your ICE Chevy driving old loyal mass produced car buyer wallets to start buying expensive EV’a not everybody in the US can afford to move up to new expensive priced EV’s similar to old ICE Audi,BMW & Mercedes Benz prices, expecting ex Americans mass produced buyer wallets to suddenly change luxury priced cars wallet in a world awashed with Fiat money printed high inflation, paying exstortiane high interest rates on car loans on expensive EV, it’s not going to happen the consumers/goverments are are all maxed out on credit card mass produced car buys don’t want to pay sky high ICE Audi/BMW/Merc luxury price, the mass market automakers can’t all move up into all charge what use to be ICE luxury priced car market EV car prices, your tradition buyer wallets don’t have the capacity to follow you there, 50 year car loan, or take out mortgages on your $105,000 Chevy Avalanche EV? Farley is just finding out there is no place for Ford in the luxury car/truck market American consumers wallet does not match it, Ford Model e division is losing $36,000 on every EV it make on course to lose $4.5 billion bigger losses as it ramps up production.
Ford’s expensive huge loss making Ford Model e division are crippling Blue Oval who are already have massive long term debt, is facing 40% union wage claims that will further increase prices of already expensive EV’s. Ford have already halted F150 Lighting production, got rid of staff on its production line, as Unsold Mustang Mach’s & Lightnings are clogging up dealers parking spaces.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said there is no demand out there from Ford customers for Ford Mach-e division EV line-up, Ford is now switching to new hybrids instead inn the future, but you have to ask the question what happens when Government legislators ICE ban end date arrives and the net zero world kicks in, will Chinese & Tesla eaten up most of your customers, with nothing in place that sells?
Hoping now that Buick design team are free from the shackles Opels incredibly boring car designs that lost billions, will come with more inspiring aesthetically compelling designs not just another generically dull boring bland CAD base rule in billion dollar losing design, Hoping Buick Design team wake up start making the cars buyers consumers want in the future not impose want designers want. Not a big fan of the new Avalanche EV, l wish GM had simply offered a more classic Silverado as its first EV truck, light bar on top of grills horrible, unpractical side panel on to of bed makes it impossible to lift something out the front of the bed whilst creating another induced blind spot poor design, can just imagine piece of 4 x 2 timber or a dewalt concrete kango or some other projectile flying through the cab with an open mid-gate during heavy braking, punching though a headrest or tearing your leather seat backs, prefer a nice fixed rigid cab of the Silverado with nice big rectangular windows with excellent all round visibility like the 3 best selling vehicles in the US have, ICE Avalanches were never a big seller sitting at the top of the US sales charts.
Very future of Buick sits delicately balanced, Buick are the next to follow Holden brand, sadly the next head to roll on the GM chopping block especially as Buick ICE sales are tanking in China at the moment. A massive fan of all those fantastic classic Buicks in the 50’s & 60’s when you see them at classic car shows wow no wonder GM owned the market it’s like the designers had an input and cared, would absolutely hate to see a great brand like Buick with a fantastic heritage, disappear in the future net zero.
Biggest simple reality check for Ford & GM is your massed produced buyers wallets don’t match mass produced expensive EV prices.
Ford & GM mass produced vehicles EV’s prices are more in tune Audi, BMW & Mercedes Benz wallets you just priced your own buyers out of your car market. As we head into an economic down turn headwind, the consumer disposable income is being clobbered with high interest rates that will dampen demand for $105,000 Avalanche EV’s, that are also facing union 40% wage that bump up EV prices, unions demand to keep with up with hyperinflation as food inflation rockets due to excessive money printing as companies like Blue Oval are paying less than McDonalds workers wages new EV battery making plants are ant pay parity 40% increase with other Ford plants.
Nothing against EV’s personally but when Ford CEO stands up and says the US consumers have no appetite for electric cars the bankrupt alarm bells start ringing, as the Chinese & Tesla will offer them if the Governments legislation globally stick to 2035 net zero deadlines.
There will still a niche big global ICE market for small cheap affordable ICE cars in third world countries that Toyota say they will serve, but Buick’s net zero date is 2030.
Always said cars and trucks are full of expensive gadgets these days, if Ford & GM want to remain mass producers want to survive in a new Government legislated in electric car only world. If the mass producer consumers wallet can’t afford then they have got to offer more bare bones base model works trucks at a price that matches the mass market consumers wallet, offering subscription services to turn on Air con on expensive electric cars, heated seats LOL your consumers will go elsewhere for there drive that don’t charge.
Sorry l apologise for the long rant in my first post on here, but just hate the thought of another great US brand biting the dust in the future, due to Government legislators demand for EV’s ban of ICE cars globally, shoot the post down in flames l don’t care, but l do care about the future of Ford, GM, Mopar & Tesla passionately. What do you feel about Buick’s long term future?