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China-market Buick Electra E5 meets the world

We now know the Buick Envista crossover is on the way to the U.S. market after its recent debut in China. The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has previewed another Buick crossover that will eventually get here, the release spotted by Car News China. The battery-electric Electra E5 was outed as part of the ministry process of opening up a public comment for new market entries. This is the Buick-branded Ultium-based EV that inaugurates a new electric era for GM brands over there, the E5 landing in the middle of the consecutive E1 to E9 trademarks Buick reserved a few years ago. The five-seat crossover's dimensions have been given as 192.6 inches long, 75 inches wide, and 66.2 inches tall, on a wheelbase 116.3 inches long. That size puts it on the same wheelbase as the coming 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV, with a length about two inches longer. The base wheels measure 18 inches, the options list offers 20-inch units. The battery pack is sourced from a joint venture between CATL and SAIC, the latter being GM's joint venture partner in China. The automaker said it's "tailored for China" but we don't know what that means, nor do we know the capacity. Thanks to the MIIT information, we do know the E5 weighs 5,666 pounds and in this initial form will be powered by one 241-horsepower motor that can achieve a top speed to 112 miles per hour.  Spy photographers caught an Electra SUV clad in camo doing the rounds in Michigan earlier this month with all the same design cues seen on the Chinese model — narrow headlights and taillights, three-piece high brake light on the hatch spoiler, and the same wheels. Although we could be wrong, we'd bet a fair bit of money our Electra will come with more than 241 horsepower, though. Even our compact Buick Envision gets 228 hp, and it weighs almost 2,000 pounds less than the China-market Electra E5.   The same over there as here, the E5 represents Buick's first proper move toward the all-electric lineup scheduled to be completed by 2030. In China, it will mean the sunset of current EV offerings like the Buick Velite 6 MAV wagon-like vehicle, and the Chevy-Bolt-based Velite 7. Car News China said neither sell well, calling the Velite 6 "a bit of an oddball," and the 7 a little small for the Chinese market. Younger, tech-happy buyers will be lured with the first strokes of SAIC's Smart Cockpit and GM's Super Cruise. Deliveries should commence at the beginning of next year in China, the E5's arrival in the U.S.

Wagons make a bit of a comeback, with new models, sales on the rise

Consider this an official invitation to hop on the wagon bandwagon. There's still tons of room because, well, it's a wagon (and market share is still extremely small). But according to new data, the segment is growing. According to a report from Bloomberg, using data from Edmunds.com, roughly 211,600 Americans purchased wagons in 2018. That is technically down from the 237,600 sold in 2017, but wagon sales in the U.S. are up 29 percent from where they were five years ago. It's also the third year in a row that wagon sales broke the 200,000 mark. The sales trends have been somewhat representative of the availability of wagons. New models have debuted during the past 5 years and therefore offer more opportunity at more brands to buy wagons. In addition to more modest cars such as the Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen, several luxury and performance brands are offering wagons today, such as Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, Jaguar, Volvo and Buick. (Bloomberg's headlines make the point that "crossovers are for the Kardashians," and wagons are just, well, classier.) This uptick in brand-name availability, as well as extremely well-executed design on most of the wagons currently available, has helped increase the segment's desirability. That, and its ability to better accomplish the same tasks at hand while standing out from the crossover and SUV crowd. Still, the posted numbers represent a small fraction of the total vehicles sold. According to the data, wagons only held a 1.4 percent market share in 2017, the segment's best recent year. Wagons hold a steadfast place in America's past, and they're writing an interesting new story. With the downturn in traditional cars, they may continue to create an unexpected narrative. Related Video: News Source: Bloomberg, Edmunds Audi BMW Buick Volkswagen Volvo Wagon station wagon

Safety group pans GM’s new Marketplace in-dash shopping

When it comes to our cars, is the Internet of Things a godsend? Or a hidden menace that will create more problems than it will solve? On the same day General Motors announced it will equip newer-model cars with its in-dash Marketplace e-commerce app, a prominent safety group was shooting it down. National Safety Council President Deborah Hersman tells Bloomberg the technology will only contribute to distracted driving and hurt efforts to stem the tide of rising auto fatalities, which grew 5.6 percent to more than 37,000 in the U.S. in 2016. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says distracted driving was responsible for 3,477 fatalities and 391,000 injuries in 2015, the most recent year for which it has data. "There's nothing about this that's safe," Hersman told Bloomberg. "If this is why they want WiFi in the car, we're going to see fatality numbers go up even higher than they are now." Marketplace, developed with IBM, will allow drivers — or more often, one hopes, their passengers — to order coffee or food, find gas stations and reserve hotel rooms from their dashboard screens. The technology is set to be uploaded automatically to nearly 1.9 million GM vehicles model-year 2017 and later that are equipped with WiFi hotspots and compatible systems. By the end of 2018, about 4 million Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles will be equipped with Marketplace. The app will debut with a limited number of participating retailers, including TGI Fridays, Shell, Exxon Mobil and Starbucks, with more likely to join later. Online retail giant Amazon is also partnering with automakers such as Ford to bring e-commerce capabilities inside the car through its Alexa personal assistant. While convenience is nice, one other thing is becoming clear as the IoT wedges its way into our cars: It's taking aim at some decidedly first-world problems.Related Video: Image Credit: GM Buick Cadillac Chevrolet GM GMC Technology Infotainment in-car entertainment marketplace e-commerce