The Buick Envision is the first Chinese-made vehicles sold by a major automaker in the U.S.
For a brand that came close to being shut down six years ago, Buick is showing solid signs of good health, the maker today reporting it has topped the 1 million sales mark in record time with more than two months of the year left to continue burnishing the total.
Worldwide, Buick sales are up 23% so far this year – but the numbers can be a misleading. While there is no question Buick is on a record pace, the maker still lags behind prior peaks in the U.S. What’s driving the Buick build-up is the brand’s continuing momentum in China, now its largest single market.
In fact, General Motors officials have told TheDetroitBureau.com that the only reason Buick was not cast aside – along with Saab, Saturn, Hummer and Pontiac – when the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2010 was because of the damage that would have caused in China.
If anything, U.S. consumers have benefited from Buick’s presence in that Asian market. The products the brand now sells are significantly different from what was offered prior to GM’s economic collapse.
Though it dropped the Verano sedan, Buick has added the new Cascada convertible.
For decades, “If you thought about Buick, you thought about a big, boaty sedan or wagon with plush velour seats,” said Joe Phillippi, senior automotive analyst with AutoTrends, Inc. But the brand is rapidly revising what he calls its “hoary” reputation.
A good example is the new Encore, the marque’s smallest SUV – and also the first vehicle from a major automaker imported from China. Envision anchors a growing line-up of Buick SUVs even as the brand rethinks its approach in the traditional passenger car segment.
While Buick recently launched its first convertible in years, the Cascada, the marque has also decided to drop the slow-selling Verano, despite strong reviews.
Still in ramp-up phase, Buick claims to have just a 23-day supply of Envisions on U.S. dealer lots, barely a third of the 65-day inventory considered the norm. Sales are expected to finish the year at more than 200,000 worldwide. That’s nearly triple what Buick officials have told TheDetroitBureau.com they originally expected when the Envision was launched in China barely two years ago.
Equally telling, the bigger Encore has continued to build sales momentum even as it gets ready for a 2017 redesign. Demand hit an all-time in September at 7,197 deliveries in the U.S.
The Buick Avenir concept car.
American sales are running at their highest level in 11 years, Buick reports, and the brand now outsells competitors such as Acura and Lincoln – though it lags well behind Lexus, the marque Buick has most directly tried to target.
The U.S. is now Buick’s second-largest market, sales running well behind those in China where it is the second-largest brand. There, Buick serves as General Motors’ mainstream brand and offers a far wider product mix than in the States.
(Buick Avista, Avenir score big. But will they go into production? Click Here.)
Whether Buick will ever match its best years in the American market remain to be seen but the maker is taking steps to enhance its appeal. It recently announced plans to launch a sub-brand, Avenir, which borrows its name from a widely hailed Buick concept vehicle.
There is speculation Buick may ultimately build either the Avenir or the equally well-received Avista show car, though GM officials have not confirmed that plan. For now, the Avenir badge will be applied to more upscale versions of existing Buick products, much as sibling General Motors brand GMC has done with its Denali badge.
The Buick Encore is targeting one of the global market's fastest-growing segments.
“Avenir will be Buick’s signature,” the brand’s marketing chief Duncan Aldred said last month.
(For more on Avenir, Click Here.)
Buick does face some challenges. It is trying to squeeze into a niche between mainstream Chevrolet and upscale Cadillac, and the launch of Avenir could confuse some customers, industry analysts have cautioned.
Meanwhile, the Chinese car market has been stuttering this year. Though it has begun regaining momentum over the last couple months, overall growth is lagging in single digits, a far cry from the explosive surge in demand earlier this decade.
But, for now, after reaching sales of 1.046 million through the end of September, Buick seems assured of easily topping its previous record of about 1.2 million vehicles set just last year.
(Buick gaining momentum in Consumer Reports’ auto brand study. Click Here for more.)