China has long been the world’s biggest market for the Buick brand. A majority of the Buick models sold annually worldwide are sold in China. However, the brand’s dominance has been slipping in recent years, largely due to increased domestic competition from brands like BYD, Chery, Geely, and others. Now, based on deep discounts advertised on the brand’s Chinese website, it looks like the brand is having some inventory issues on slow-selling models.
Starting with the crossovers, the extended-length Buick Envision Plus (Angkowei Plus) gets a 26-percent discount from the equivalent of $31,922 USD down to $23,591 USD. The Envision S (Angkowei S), which is the same as the USDM Envision, gets a deeper 29-percent discount from $27,340 USD to $19,425 USD. Meanwhile, the Buick Electra E5 gets a more modest 17-percent discount from $28,313 USD to $23,592 USD.
A couple of Buick’s Chinese sedans also get deep discounts. The LaCrosse (Junyue) is discounted 24 percent from $29,146 USD to $22,203 USD. The deepest discount of all is for the Regal (Junwei), with a 33-percent drop from $22,189 USD to $14,844 USD. This makes the Regal even more affordable than the smaller Verano Pro.
Notably, none of Buick’s MPVs in the Chinese market are discounted at all. This implies that the Chinese market for the GL8 and Century premium vans is doing just fine in terms of sales and inventory, possibly because of less domestic competition in the segment. Meanwhile, mainstream crossovers and sedans are getting harder for American brands to sell in China.
The Tri-Shield brand recently cut down its crossover lineup in China, eliminating multiple models. A few recently discontinued crossovers in China include the Encore Plus (similar to our Encore GX), the Envista, and the Electra E4 EV. These were all priced on the lower end of Buick’s crossover lineup, which is the most competitive space in China at the moment. Buick’s crossover portfolio will continue to evolve in China and will soon include only electrified models under the Electra NEV sub-brand.
Comments
Oh dear. It looks like the writing on the wall went from sentence case, to block lettering, to now bold font. And will GM finally be able to read it or sound like that abused woman that keeps coming up with excuses for the abuser rather than doing whats best for her own security?
I’ve been saying this for a long time that the Chinese market cannot be taken for granted. GM was beyond brainless in their decision to abandon all other markets and go all in on China when any wise veteran investor will tell you diversification of your investments is key. This doesn’t just apply to stocks. It applies to markets too. The Chinese are not interested in sharing their domestic market and even less interested in seeing foreigners succeed there. And now, we are seeing the effects of this playing out. They got what they needed and companies like GM are now getting the bird.
GM better start coming to grips with this reality. They better think of something soon and start thinking globally like Toyota, VW, and Hyundai and start investing in cars that will appeal to global markets including Europe, south Asia, Australia, etc., get back into those markets, if they want to stay globally relevant. Again, I am not saying they need to abandon the Chinese market entirely, that is just silly unless they have a real reason to like their assets getting nationalized and taken over outright (which is a real possibility. It happened in Russia in 2022), but they better start preparing for the possibility of losing this market. Like I said. Darwin is going to be busy in the coming years looking for those that fail the natural selection test.
You nailed it. And with the antagonism between the US and China on trade and other areas, it is only going to get worse. As a Buick fan I am worried it won’t be around long if the China situation worsens.
I would love to get an envission at 25% discount and pay only $20,000 which is actually probably like a 35 or 40% discount in the US. Why can’t they sell these cars in USA at these prices?
Because China is undergoing a deflationary spiral. That’s why. The last time the US had deflation was during the Great Depression and briefly during COVID lockdowns.
Buick is on life support in China, as the article stated they have too much to choose from domestic brands. Once it goes belly up there, it’s demise here is almost certain.