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Opel did a great job on the 2018 Buick Regal

Ladies and gentlemen, the 2018 Buick Regal. The car you see is actually the Opel Insignia Grand Sport, but General Motors will bring it to the United States as the next-generation Regal virtually unchanged. The Insignia, revealed Wednesday by Opel, gets a sleek new design punched up with LED lights and sweeping proportions meant to conjure a fastback silhouette. It will debut in March at the Geneva Motor Show and launch next year in Europe. Expect the Regal to go on sale in the middle of 2017 in the US. The Opel-Buick relationship has been tight in the last decade, with the outgoing Regal earning strong praise for its German-tuned chassis and premium appearance. While Buick has been the recipient of much of Opel's work, the Insignia is now borrowing one of Buick's great names: Grand Sport. View 12 Photos Opel points to the Monza concept as the source of inspiration for the Insignia, though Buick will undoubtedly say the Avenir concept was the Regal's creative stimulus. Some think it looks like a Mazda. Mark Adams, vice president of GM Design Europe also oversees the automaker's global styling operations. "Its design combines flowing lines and subtle surfaces with crisp, precise lines to even exaggerate its dramatic proportions: it looks longer, lower, and wider than it actually is, and it definitely looks upscale," he said in statement. Expect similar thoughts for the Regal. Opel is also working on an Insignia wagon, which we've captured in spy photos before. We've also heard whispers that it will come to the US market with a Regal badge. Opel's announcement previews many of the details we'll see in the new Regal. Based on a new chassis, the Insignia is 386 pounds lighter than the previous car. The wheelbase is 3.62 inches longer and the track is .43 inches wider. Opel tapered the front and rear overhangs, so there's only a slight gain in overall length. The interior has more room, Opel says, and features a touchscreen with GM's IntelliLink system. The car will also have several drive modes, which tailor the chassis, throttle response, and shifting dynamics. Other technologies includes a head-up display, 360-degree camera, lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, and cross-traffic alert. The Insignia will offer an eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive with torque-vectoring. We expect both to come to the US market. Meanwhile, another GM brand, Vauxhall, unveiled the Vauxhall Insignia for the British market.

Buick Electra E5 interior debuts with a 30-inch, 6K OLED display

After a Chinese ministry outed the Electra E5 two months ago, Buick China officially revealed the exterior about a month ago. Now it's time for the five-seat battery-electric crossover's interior. Buick's first ride on the Ultium platform not only looks good, it's full of tech. Those aspects come together in the cabin's biggest lure to the eye, the Virtual Cockpit and its 30-inch EyeMax curved LCD screen. The manufacturer says that in addition to 6K resolution, the screen can display one billion colors — a chromatic range that every mantis shrimp with a driver's license will appreciate. The tech continues in premium touches like the 12.6-inch heads-up display, 121 colors of ambient lighting, wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless phone charging. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip provides faster processing, enables 5G connectivity, and can manage OTA updates for multiple in-car modules simultaneously. Comparing the Electra E5 interior to our flagship Enclave Avenir, it's easy to make connections in the design language. Still, there's no question the Electra represents a big evolution. The steering wheel design, sculpted seat bolsters, and floating headrests are edging toward racy. The arbitrary curves that create layers of instruments in the Enclave are gone, the Electra using each input zone naturally carve out its own space on the IP. And with Buick describing this as a large mid-sizer, the floating center console gives front occupants plenty of cubby room, rear passengers enjoying the 40.5 inches of rear legroom. Remember, this sits on the same wheelbase as the imminent 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV, but stretches about two inches longer in overall length. The Buick's materials are expected to make an upgrade as well, with micro-perforated leather, soft-touch plastics, and brushed aluminum accents. The Electra E5 should hit the Chinese market before the middle of the year. There's a version coming for the U.S., expected to arrive in time for the 2024 model year. We're not sure how much of what we see here will carry over. We know we're looking for something more potent than the 241-horsepower, single-motor powertrain which is the only one we've heard about for the Chinese-market Electra E5 so far. But assuming it is as nice as it looks, that cabin can come as-is. Related video:

Facelifted Buick LaCrosse caught in China

Back in September, General Motors promised nine new or refreshed models for its Buick and GMC brands within 12 months, and while we've already seen what the updated 2014 GMC Sierra will look like, we're now getting our first look at what appears to be the facelifted 2014 Buick LaCrosse. Judging by a set of spy shots posted on Autohome showing a Chinese-market model, the updated sedan is getting a pretty big makeover, including a completely redesigned interior and a refreshed exterior.
From the outside, all of the usual midcycle updates have been made to the LaCrosse, including new lights and fascias. The new front end features a larger, reshaped seven-sided grille, LED-trimmed headlights and Buick's signature portholes are now mounted on the side edges of the hood to be more visible. The rear view has similarly small yet refined changes such as the new decklid with a chrome brow that stretches the full width of the car, to a more squared-off rear fascia with exhaust outlets pushed out to the corners. From the single shot we can see, the LaCrosse's new rump looks very similar to the Hyundai Equus.
The second-generation LaCrosse helped reestablish Buick as a near-premium automaker with its interior quality, and the next model could very well up the stakes even more. The new cabin design ditches the wraparound wood trim on the instrument panel and door panels for a smoother, more contemporary look. While it's hard to make out all of the changes, we can instantly see that the center stack is now more upright with fewer buttons, but the biggest news might be the cabin technology the 2014 LaCrosse might offer. Checking out the shot of the center console, we see what looks to be a pad similar to the handwriting recognition technology used by Audi, which would make this a first for GM.