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Buick, Lexus top J.D. Power survey, as vehicle service improves overall

Buick and Lexus returned to their customary place atop J.D. Power's scorecard of satisfaction with dealership service departments. In the Customer Service Index Study, out Thursday, Buick scored 860 on a 1,000-point scale for mass-market brands and has topped this ranking in three of the past four years. Lexus topped the list of luxury brands with a score of 874. Fiat and Land Rover were the bottom-dwellers in the two categories. Buick and Lexus also ranked highly in the research company's overall Vehicle Dependability Study rankings out recently. The customer experience at car dealerships has improved steadily, with the overall industry score rising in seven of the past eight years. And one statistic is particularly remarkable: 94 percent of customers say their car was fixed right the first time. The dominant area of difficulty in repairs seems to be infotainment systems. Only 80 percent of respondents said their stereo was fixed right the first time. And in last month's Vehicle Dependability Study, J.D. Power reported that infotainment systems were the most commonly reported vehicle issue, accounting for 22 percent of all problems reported, up 2 percent from the previous year. J.D. Power surveyed 70,000 customers for the Customer Service Index Study. For the Vehicle Dependability Study, it surveyed 35,186 first owners of 2014 model-year vehicles after three years of ownership. Below are charts for both the current study and the complementary overall brand dependability survey. Related video:

The Chinese experiment | 2017 Buick Envision First Drive

The 2017 Buick Envision is a very good five-passenger crossover. The "but" you should anticipate will come in good time. First it's worth understanding why it exists at all. Out of the ashes of GM's bankruptcy a few flowers blossomed and the carmaker is doing exceptionally well, certainly far better than Chrysler has done in the wake of its free fall into Chapter 11. But of all the surprises at GM's turnaround, Buick surely ranks highest, without question the least likely player to thrive if you only study the North American market. Look farther than our shores, to China, however, and you won't be shocked. Note that the Envision, which has been on sale in China for a year and a half, will reach about 200,000 units this year; the entire Buick portfolio in the US only totaled 223,000 cars in 2015. Not only is China Buick's primary market, but what it makes there, like the Envision, is intended for a different sort of buyer. Here, we'd call it a compact crossover. In China the Envision is a relatively large car, and the buyer there is far more likely to use it as a tall limo, or at the very least, as a big-time status statement. That buyer is also very likely to be in his or her mid-30s – the average Buick buyer in the US is getting younger, but, at 58, is hardly a millennial. Still, Americans who buy the Envision will benefit from all of this China focus. Huge effort went into its development since the target competitor in China is the Audi Q5, according to Rick Spina, Executive Chief Engineer for the Envision. Spina explained that Buick went to the trouble and expense of isolating the entire chassis from engine, suspension, and driveline vibration and sound penetration. "If you look at non-luxury models like Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, nothing's isolated, everything is hard-bolted to the body, and so all that vibration goes into the frame." Spina says that even though you'd guess the China-built Envision shares the general parts bin of the Chevy Cruze and Equinox, it's almost entirely unique. "It's kind of an orphan," he says, because GM couldn't afford to invest in the ride tuning Buick had to have to compete with Audi in China for a volume Chevy product, so nothing from Chevy (for now) is on this platform. And although it would have made sense to have Cadillac or GMC share it, Cadillac's XT5 and GMC's Acadia were already on a different development cycle. Besides, he's pretty proud that the Envision was developed strictly for Buick.

Buick Velite 6 to come in PHEV, electric versions for China

In addition to the all-electric Enspire crossover concept revealed this week ahead of the Beijing Auto Show, Buick is adding a new production variant to its Velite series of electrified vehicles for China. It's called the Velite 6, a plug-in hybrid that will launch this year in Buick's largest market. A full-electric version, shown in the lead photo above at right, is coming later. Buick already sells a vehicle called a Velite 5 in China, which is essentially a rebadged Chevrolet Volt, only with a higher electric-only driving range. This one is based on the Velite concept PHEV introduced in late 2016 at Auto Guangzhou. The PHEV and battery-electric versions look nearly identical, with a wide stance, plenty of creases and a hatchback design that bears some similarities to the longer 2018 Regal TourX wagon. The Velite 6 uses two AC permanent-magnet synchronous motors, a lithium-ion battery and a 1.5-liter four-cylinder combustion engine. Buick says combined gas-electric driving range is 435 miles, which is 15 miles greater than the Volt. Buick will assemble what it calls the "new-generation" ternary battery pack at its new SAIC-GM Power Battery Development Center in Shanghai. The company says the Velite 6 electric vehicle "will adopt a new-generation pure electric drive system to offer customers a smooth, quiet and natural driving experience." Both models get the cloud-based Buick eConnect technology, which allows over-the-air software updates, real-time integration with China's WeChat social media network, and other digital perks. Owners will also be able to use their smartphone as the vehicle's key, and they can also authorize others to use the car through their phones. China has long been Buick's largest market, with more than 1.18 million vehicles sold in 2017 compared to just 219,231 in the U.S., and the country has established aggressive mandates for production of electric vehicles. GM has plans to add 20 new electric and fuel-cell vehicles globally by 2023. Related Video: