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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:

GM and Ford quarterly sales continue to slump in China

BEIJING — General Motors and Ford announced their quarterly sales in China fell, albeit at a slower pace sequentially, as the U.S. automakers were hit by a slowing economy amid the Sino-U.S. trade war. GM's vehicle sales in China for the quarter ended June 30 dropped 12.2%, while Ford's sales slumped by 21.7%. While GM also suffered from heightened competition in its key mid-priced SUV segment, Ford was hurt by the limited new models for customers to choose from. For the first quarter of this year, Ford's sales in China tumbled 35.8 percent while GM's skid 17.5 percent. Still, the numbers from GM, the second biggest international automaker in China by sales, and Ford portend more uncertainty for the industry which is trying to rebound from a downward spiral that led to its first annual sales decline last year in more than two decades. GM delivered 1.57 million vehicles in China in the January-June period this year, while Ford delivered 290,321 vehicles. China's factory activity shrank more than expected in June, highlighting the need for more economic stimulus amid higher U.S. tariffs and weaker domestic demand. Annual car sales in China fell last year for the first time since the 1990s, and they are expected to fall this year too. Sales tumbled 16.4% in May from the same month a year prior, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said. That marked the 11th consecutive month of decline and followed falls of 14.6% in April and 5.2% in March. U.S. car companies' share of total China passenger vehicles sales fell to 9.6% in the first five months of this year from 10.9% in the year-ago period, according to CAAM. Over the same period, German car makers' share has risen to 23.3% from 20.9% and Japanese auto makers' to 21.3% from 17.3%. CAAM is set to announce June sales next week, which industry analysts forecast will be negative.   New models In China, GM has a joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp, in which the Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac are made. It also has another venture, with SAIC and GuangxiAutomobile Group, in which they make no-frills minivans and have started to make higher-end cars. Sales of GM's affordable brand Baojun dropped 31.8% for the latest quarter. But luxury brand Cadillac's sales jumped 36.6%. GM sold 3.64 million units in China last year, down from 4.04 units in 2017. Ford makes cars in China through its joint venture with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co and Jiangling Motors Corp (JMC).

Buick Encore, Chevy Trax reportedly dead after 2022

The Buick Encore will not get an encore, and the Chevrolet Trax is dead in its tracks. Separate unverified reports say the two crossovers, which are essentially identical underneath the sheetmetal, will retire at the end of the 2022 model year without being directly replaced. Citing anonymous sources, enthusiast website GM Authority wrote that production of the Encore and the Trax is scheduled to end in the third quarter of 2022. Both models are manufactured in Bupyeong-gu, South Korea, and General Motors will reportedly use the extra production capacity to build more examples of the Trailblazer, which outsold the Encore and the Trax combined by a significant margin in 2021. General Motors hasn't commented on the report, but we wouldn't be surprised if the end is indeed near for the Encore and the Trax. Buick released the Encore for the 2013 model year, and Chevrolet launched the Trax for 2015, but the model made its debut as the Opel Mokka in 2012. It's at the end of its life cycle, and sales figures reflect this: 20,072 units of the Encore were sold in America in 2021, a drop of 52% compared to 2020, while 42,590 examples of the Trax found a home, a 60% decline. It's further proof that Americans don't like small cars. Viewed in that light, the decision not to replace either crossover makes perfect sense. If the report is accurate, the Encore GX (which is not related to the Encore in any way) will enter the 2023 model year as Buick's entry-level model. The situation is a little more complicated at Chevrolet: The pocket-sized Spark is on its way out in 2022 as well, meaning that the Trailblazer will become the entry point into the range. It's a different story in Europe: Opel, which is now part of the Stellantis group, released the second-generation Mokka in June 2020.