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2024 Buick Envista Cupholder Mega Test: Will the Nalgene bottle fit?

Buick has launched its newest, most-affordable vehicle. The 2024 Buick Envista slots below the Encore GX, starts below $25,000 and is a comfortable and quiet thing. It looks pretty good, too, I think. You can read all about it in my first drive review, and if you have, you've probably been wondering, "Well, what about the cupholders? Will my goofily large water bottle fit?" Despite water being provided on the drive, as you can see from the disposable bottles in the background of these photos, I went through a liter of diet cola from my Nalgene water bottle on the cross-town trek to the event, so it came along for the drive with me. Up front, we've got a pair of cupholders in a fore/aft orientation. They look fairly typical in every way, including size, which doesn't bode well for the 'gene. I could feel the dull disappointment as I lowered the bottle toward the cupholder. Indeed, it doesn't fit.  At first glance, the front door pocket looks like it could work. That little divider is worrisome, though. Adsheartlikins! So close. As you can see in the video further below, after staunchly rejecting the Nalgene, a second attempt shows it'll slip in just a little bit, but not enough to properly hold the thing. The front occupants, it appears, are out of options. But what about the people in the back? There are no cupholders on the back of the center console, nor is there a center armrest to fold down from the seat. Straight to the door pocket it is. The rear door pocket looks like a shortened version of the ones up front. Inauspicious, but we still have to cross our fingers and check it. No surprises here. Just more disappointment. So while the rear passengers can enjoy a healthy amount of legroom, they can't enjoy a more-than-healthy amount of water from their Nalgene unless they hold it or let it roll around on the floor. I still liked the Envista, though. It's worth a look if you want a budget car that doesn't feel cheap. Disclaimer: Autoblog accepts vehicle loans from auto manufacturers with a tank of gas and sometimes insurance for the purpose of evaluation and editorial content. Like most of the auto news industry, we also sometimes accept travel, lodging and event access for vehicle drive and news coverage opportunities. Our opinions and criticism remain our own — we do not accept sponsored editorial.

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's big boxy crossover design sketch looks surprisingly good

The current Buick lineup is fairly bland, consisting solely of amorphous crossovers in small, medium, and large. Fortunately, the brand is showing signs of life at the General Motors design studio with new products like the Envista, and where designers have envisioned (no pun intended) a large, boxy vehicle that looks like a Kia EV9 competitor. The unnamed premium crossover was penned by designer Geoffrey Richmond and has a well-defined profile with a traditional SUV's squarish greenhouse. It could portend the next-generation Enclave, which shares a similar fishhook headlight design. However, the illustration's front end is a lot more cohesive, with foglamp housings that meet at the outer edges of the headlights.  The front end has sort of the Tesla EV duckbill thing going on, but a wide lower intake indicates that there could be an engine under the hood. In any case, this is just an ideation so there may not even be a platform to put this body on yet. That would be a shame, as the Enclave has been out since 2018 and could use a makeover. The V6-powered crossover was supposed to reposition the brand, and we found it quiet and surprisingly comfortable in our review. However, that hasn't been enough to catch on with trendsetters — Enclaves are rarer than Bentleys here in L.A. The "bar of soap" crossover trend is over. Nowadays, for better or worse, buyers want aggressive, rugged looking crossovers even if they're just going on a Target run. A bold design like the one Richmond painted might change the Enclave's fortunes. And maybe they can bring back the portholes. Related video: 2024 Buick Encore GX Nalgene water bottle test