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2024 Buick Envision debuts with family styling, massive interior screen

Buick showed us the 2024 Envision in a single image nearly a year ago, and while the wait’s been a long one, we now have all the details on this crossoverÂ’s thorough refresh. And yes, even though weÂ’re already rather deep into 2024, this refresh is indeed for the 2024 model year Envision. The big changes outside are plenty visible at first glance as you see the Wildcat EV-inspired front end thatÂ’s been splashed across BuickÂ’s SUV lineup. The Envision looks largely similar to before around back, though Buick notes itÂ’s using new badging on the rear fascia. Plus, new 20-inch wheels are standard on both the ST and Avenir trims, while the base Preferred trim makes do with 18s. Its powertrain is all carryover, which means the only engine option is a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that sends 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque through a nine-speed automatic transmission. One difference for 2024, though, is that all-wheel drive is made standard, eliminating the cheaper FWD versions. BuickÂ’s most substantial changes are inside the 2024 Envision. It features a standard 30-inch display that stretches across the dash encompassing the instrument cluster and the infotainment screen. This also means it has a new center stack and center console design that better fits this massive display. Many of the hard climate control buttons are eliminated from the center stack, but some key, often-used toggles remain for easy use. The button-operated “shifter” layout on the center console is gone, too, replaced by GMÂ’s column shifter slowly making its way across the entire General Motors lineup. In its place is a massive, shiny volume knob and additional storage capacity. As for luxuries and styling, the Envision adds new red/black and gray/blue interior color combos, and the front seats themselves are new to be more comfortable than before. Ambient lighting is added to the cabin, and Buick says itÂ’s upped the trim quality on the center console. If you opt for the ST, you get a flat-bottom steering wheel for a sportier appearance, too. More driver assistance features are being made standard for 2024, though Super Cruise is not one of them despite it being initially touted as one of the new technology items coming to the Envision this year. When queried about its absence, a Buick spokesperson told us this: “The 24MY Envision will no longer debut with Super Cruise, but we plan to bring it to Buick vehicles soon.

U.S. new-vehicle sales in 2018 rise slightly to 17.27 million [UPDATE]

DETROIT — Sales of new vehicles in the U.S. rose slightly in 2018, defying predictions and highlighting a strong economy. Automakers reported an increase of 0.3 percent over a year ago to 17.27 million vehicles. The increase came despite rising interest rates, a volatile stock market, and rising car and truck prices that pushed some buyers out of the new-vehicle market. Industry analysts and automakers said strong economic fundamentals pushed up sales and should keep them near historic highs in 2019. "Economic conditions in the U.S. are favorable and should continue to be supportive of vehicle sales at or around their current run rate," Ford Chief Economist Emily Kolinski Morris said after the company and other automakers announced their sales numbers Thursday. That auto sales remain near the 2016 record of 17.55 million is a testimonial to the strength of the economy, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. The job market, he said, has created new employment, and wage growth has accelerated. "That's fundamental to selling anything," he said. "If there are lots of jobs and people are getting bigger paychecks, they will buy more." The unemployment rate is 3.7 percent, a 49-year low. The economy is thought to have grown close to 3 percent last year, its best performance in more than a decade. Consumers, the main driver of the economy, are spending freely. The Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate four times in 2018 but is only expected to raise it twice this year. Auto sales also were helped by low gasoline prices and rising home values, Zandi said. It all means that people are likely to keep buying new vehicles this year even as they grow more expensive. The Edmunds.com auto-pricing site estimates that the average new vehicle price hit a record $35,957 in December, about 2 percent higher than the previous year. It will be harder for automakers to keep the sales pace above 17 million because they have been enticing buyers for several years now with low-interest financing and other incentives, Zandi said. He predicts more deals in the coming year as job growth slows and credit tightens for higher-risk buyers. Edmunds, which provides content, including automotive tips and reviews, for distribution by The Associated Press, predicts that sales will drop this year to 16.9 million.

2019 Buick Envision First Drive Review | Still not a standout

ATLANTA – "We're in the fashion business," executive chief engineer Rick Spina told us as he introduced the 2019 Buick Envision. "Except with a lot of technology." Spina was referring to the changing whims of new-car buyers, which have prompted Buick to give the compact Envision crossover its mid-generational update early — just 18 months into its lifecycle — and drop its prices across all trim levels. As with much of our consumer goods, the Envision is made in China. That doesn't seem to have hurt it in the market, even though it wears the badge of one of the most quintessentially American brands out there. It even aced the IIHS crash tests, putting it in league with Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus. There's good news and bad news about how the Envision is doing. It's now the third-best-selling model in the Buick portfolio, behind the three-row Enclave in second place and the surprise hit Encore subcompact crossover in first. Sam Russell, Buick's director of marketing, reported 73 percent growth in the past nine months versus the first half of its market life. A full 60 percent of Envision buyers are new to the GM family, too, and Russell says that nearly half of those are likely to buy another Buick SUV when the time comes to trade in the Envision. And yet, the Envision trails in luxury compact-crossover sales, behind mainstays such as the Audi Q5 and Acura RDX, even amid crossover demand in the U.S. that has companies like Nissan posting record sales numbers and Ford canceling a redesign of the Fusion. Our test of the 2017 Envision found it competent, but lacking that "X factor" that would send buyers of German and Japanese marques flocking. Instead, we compared it to the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, and deemed those both better values. Perhaps Buick feels the same, because the base 2019 Envision now starts at $32,990, a $2,000 cut from last year. The Preferred trim level sees a greater drop of $2,400, to $34,495. Rounding out the naturally aspirated 2.5-liter grades, the Essence's price falls $1,900 to $36,795. The turbocharged 2.0-liter Premium and Premium II trims get a discount of $1,600 and $1,400, respectively. With those prices come changes that Buick hopes will make the Envision a more compelling prospect. Outwardly, the Envision sports a new grille, a winged affair to replace the 2018's waterfall and bring it in line with the rest of Buick's lineup.