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GM program sees dealers taking on way more loaner cars

Given the volume of vehicles we're talking about, this is a significant development for GM's bottom line. Bring your car into the dealership for service, and you may need a loaner car in exchange. And with so many recalls being carried out, that means a lot of loaners – especially at General Motors dealerships. That could be one of the reasons why GM is massively expanding its loaner fleet program. While many Chevrolet and Buick-GMC dealerships have an on-site rental car location operated by a third party like Enterprise (which may or may not provide a GM vehicle), others manage their own loaner fleets. But while the range of dealerships operating such fleets was once small, reports Automotive News, the number has been growing rapidly: from the locations responsible for only 20 percent of those brands' sales two years ago to about 90 percent today. The impetus for that growth comes down to a massive expansion of GM's Courtesy Transportation Program. The initiative encourages dealers to ramp up their loaner fleet to a maximum size determined by GM, with a mix determined by the dealer itself, so that a showroom in Texas can be bolstered with a fleet of pickup trucks and a dealer in California can employ more Volt and Camaro Convertible loaners. The dealership gets a $500 credit for each vehicle its puts in its fleet, and can use those vehicles as loaners for service customers, as multi-day test drivers or to rent out separately. The vehicles remain in the dealer's fleet for 90 days or 7,500 miles, then they can be sold as used, but with new-car incentives. The dealer gets a fleet of loaners, customers get to use the loaners, try out a new car overnight or buy a barely used car with attractive incentives, and GM gets to clock more sales. But therein lies the kicker: the automaker counts the dispatch of the loaner new vehicle to the dealership as a new-car sale, which could end up distorting its sales figures. Counting loaner vehicles as sold vehicles is something of an industry-standard practice, but given the volume of vehicles we're talking about, this is a significant development for GM's bottom line. One dealership - Paddock Chevrolet in Kenmore, NY, for example - had no loaner fleet two years ago, but now runs a fleet of 50 vehicles. Multiply that by the 4,000 or so dealers GM has across America and you're talking about the potential for hundreds of thousands of these sorts of sales.

2013 Buick Encore nets strong IIHS, NHTSA safety scores

After being crushed from every which way and rolled over like a labrador, the 2013 Buick Encore has been named a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. To earn the accolade, a vehicle must achieve the highest rating of "Good" in each of the institute's four main crash tests: Front Moderate Overlap, Side, Rollover and Rear. The Encore aced those four tests with "Good" ratings, but missed out on the coveted Top Safety Pick+ designation by receiving a Poor rating in the institute's new Front Small Overlap test. To be named a Top Safety Pick+, the Encore would need to score at least an "Acceptable" rating in the new test, as well as "Good" in all four original crash tests.
Despite the miss, the Encore joins the Enclave, LaCrosse, Verano and Regal as Top Safety Picks all. If you count only the Encore with all-wheel drive, then all five Buicks have also earned five-star overall ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration, making Buick one of the few manufacturers to offer a full lineup with high scores from both safety rating organizations.
The front-wheel-drive Encore, despite performing equally as well as the all-wheel-drive version in NHTSA's crash tests, only earned four stars overall. As far as we can tell, the discrepancy between the two is because some safety equipment, like Forward Collision Warning and Lane Departure Assist, are optional features on the FWD Encore and standard on the AWD model.

2024 Buick Envista revealed as a good-looking, quite-affordable crossover 'coupe'

Buick has a new entry-point for the brand, the 2024 Envista. The new model shares much with its mechanical twin, the Chevy Trax, including a very low base price of less than $24,000. But as you can see, it skips the traditional crossover shape for a more coupe-like roofline. Unsurprisingly, the Envista gets the Wildcat EV design language with a big, frowning grille and scowling LED lights. In profile, it looks longer and lower than the Encore GX, but not just because of the roofline. It's less bulky around the wheel arches, and the ends aren't so blunt and bulbous. Three trims are available for the Envista, and they have some design distinctions. The base trim is the Preferred, and then there are the ST and Avenir trims. The ST is pictured at top with its dark grille and black-painted fender flares, mirror caps and 18-inch wheels. The Avenir (pictured below) gets body-color trim and a bright metal grille and matching 19-inch wheels. 2024 Buick Envista Avenir View 9 Photos Inside, the Envista looks very much like the Encore GX. The dash design is nearly the same, save for slightly different upholstered panels and screen surrounds. It has the same 8-inch instrument display and 11-inch infotainment touchscreen. Trims get different topstitching, with the ST getting swoopy blue stitches, and the Avenir getting more toned-down, more geometric gray stitching. Cargo space comes in at 20.7 cubic feet behind the rear seats, and 42 cubes with them folded. The Envista uses the Trax platform, and that means it comes with only one powertrain: a turbocharged 1.2-liter three-cylinder. It makes 136 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque. The only transmission is a six-speed automatic, and it only sends power to the front wheels. Two suspension setups are available, one of which is a simple torsion beam, and the second adds a Watts linkage. The latter comes on all Avenirs with 19-inch wheels. As with Trax, pricing is very affordable, with the base Preferred starting at $23,495, including destination fee. The ST rises to $25,195, and the Avenir tops the range at $29,695. That puts about $3,000 of space between the Envista and the Encore GX at every trim level. Orders open for the Envista this summer. Related video: