1987 Buick Regal Limited Turbo on 2040-cars

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GM reports third straight sales drop in China in 2020

BEIJING — General Motors' vehicle sales in China fell 6.2% in 2020, as the U.S. automaker suffered a prolonged slowdown in the world's biggest auto market. GM, China's second biggest foreign automaker, delivered 2.9 million vehicles in the country last year, the company said on Wednesday, for a third straight decline in annual sales. But sales have been recovering in the second half of last year, up 12% between July and September and 14% in the final three months. GM has a Shanghai-based joint venture with SAIC Motor, in which the Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac vehicle brands are made. It also has another Liuzhou-based venture, with SAIC and Guangxi Automobile Group, in which they make no-frills minivans and have started to make higher-end cars. Sales of its Buick brand grew 4% on the year and Wuling rose 9%, the statement said. Luxury brand Cadillac's sales increased 8%. Sales of GM's more affordable Baojun brand dropped 33% last year, while sales of its mass-market Chevrolet tumbled 30%. GM's delivery of 2.9 million vehicles in China follows 3.09 million vehicles in 2019, 3.65 million vehicles in 2018, and 4.04 million in 2017, for a three-year decrease of 28%.

Buick reveals production GL8 Century minivan, and you can't have one

The futuristic GL8 MPV concept Buick showed late last year in China is headed to production. This jazzed-up people-mover appears to have held true to its concept design, with only a few elements of the exterior getting attention before heading to the assembly line.  At first blush, the most significant change from the concept is the exterior paint scheme, which was essentially inverted over several of its surfaces. The glossy silver grille of the concept gave way to a more conventional honeycomb pattern for the production version, but accents in a similar silver finish are now visible along the hood and roofline and the rising wave that peaks just in front of the GL8 Century's C-pillar.  Admittedly, the production car loses some of the wilder elements of the concept's cabin, but perhaps not as much as you might expect based on the interior photo included here. We can only see the rear seats, which give off sort of a baby private jet vibe that is vastly more impressive than what Buick offers in its American SUVs.  The Century will sit atop Buick's GL8 lineup of MPVs (which includes the more-pedestrian GL8 ES and GL8 Legacy) in China when it goes on sale later this year. Related video: 2022 Kia Carnival EX Sliding Minivan Doors | Autoblog Short Cuts

2021 Buick Envision First Drive | A successful sequel

The 2021 Buick Envision inaugurates the second generation of what GM's premium division hopes will become the staple of its all-crossover lineup. The original Envision, while reasonably competent, suffered from ungainly styling and struggled to separate itself from its reputation as the built-in-China Buick. Bundle that with a brand that has (at best) an on-again, off-again relationship with being interesting and you have a recipe for “Who cares?” No longer, says Buick. While itÂ’s still assembled in China, the 2021 Envision gets a new platform, a new powertrain, and a complete styling overhaul. Feeling a little deja vu? ThatÂ’s reasonable. Buick gave us a promising first look at the new Envision last summer, but thanks to, well, you know, 2020, weÂ’re only now getting our hands on the final product, and if we were intrigued in June, weÂ’re impressed in February. BuickÂ’s first attempt at a compact CUV was not particularly impressive, especially when it came to design. The Equinox-in-a-dinner-jacket thing never really worked and weÂ’re happy to say that the second effort is a huge improvement. The new look is genuinely attractive. Like the Enclave, the Envision borrows cues from the Avenir concept whose name BuickÂ’s product planners appropriated to denote the brandÂ’s top-trim variants. It works. Power comes from a 2.0-liter, turbocharged inline-four producing 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque as its only available engine. Front-wheel drive is standard; a twin-clutch all-wheel-drive system is optional. Both setups utilize a nine-speed automatic transmission. Your author managed an average of 23 mpg over the course of a 60-mile test loop against EPA estimates of 22 mpg city, 29 mpg highway and 25 mpg combined. FWD models are rated at 24/31/26, respectively.  Size-wise, the Envision is a bit of an odd duck. One could teach an undergrad course on GMÂ’s two-row crossover ecosystem, but suffice it to say that itÂ’s a bit more closely related to the Chevrolet Blazer than it is to the Equinox this time around, despite being closer in size to the latter. Within the luxury realm, its length and wheelbase are a few inches shorter than those of larger compact models like the Volvo XC60, Acura RDX and BMW X3, but its rear legroom is greater than them all. It's actually closer in that measurement to the midsize Lincoln Nautilus.