1971 Buick Skylark Convertible Brown With Black Interior on 2040-cars

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China's Buick Envista crossover is coming to the United States

Confirming an earlier rumor, Buick has announced that the Envista crossover it unveiled in China earlier in 2022 will travel across the Pacific and land in American showrooms. The fastback-like soft-roader's main mission will be to lure younger buyers into the firm's showrooms. "[The Buick Envista is] already in production in China, off the design of the Buick Wildcat. Getting ready for the United States here as well; just a beautiful addition to the Buick line-up," said General Motors president Mark Reuss during a conference call in November 2022. His announcement asks more questions than it answers. We don't know when the Envista will make its American debut, whether it will be imported from China or built elsewhere, or precisely where it will slot in the Buick range. Enthusiast website GM Authority speculates that we could see the model in time for the 2024 model year and that the lineup will include an upmarket trim level with the Avenir designation. Technical details will be released closer to the Envista's on-sale date. For context, the version sold in China carries a base price of RMB 150,000, which represents about $21,000 at the current conversion rate, and ships with a turbocharged, 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 181 horsepower and bolted to a continuously variable transmission (CVT). It's available with a pair of 10.25-inch displays (one for the instrument cluster and one for the infotainment system), a surround-sound system, and a sporty-looking appearance package named GS (that should raise some eyebrows from the long-time Buick fans out there). Convincing young motorists to put the Buick brand near the top of their shopping list will be just one of the Envista's tasks. On a secondary level, it also previews the design language that will permeate the rest of the range (including a series of EVs) in the coming years. Related video: Featured Gallery 2022 Buick Envista, Chinese-spec model Buick Crossover

We want this Buick Regal wagon rumor to be true

The car we know in the US as the Buick Regal is sold as a Vauxhall/ Opel Insignia in Europe, where it's offered in four-door sedan, five-door liftback, and wagon body styles. Call it a case of wanting what we can't have, but we like the last two body styles a lot. Based on a report from a Buick/ GMC dealer meeting in Austin, one of them could be coming to the US soon. According to a poster identified as 97GreenRS on the forums at GM Inside News, GM showed dealers the 2018 Buick Enclave, Regal, and Regal GS, as well as the 2018 GMC Terrain, and then confirmed it would offer the Regal wagon here in the US. While that wouldn't normally be all that much to go on, we know Buick has been toying with the idea of a wagon for some time. A Regal-badged wagon was spotted way back in 2011. More recently, we reported on a trademark filing for "Tourx" and "Regal Tourx," which suggest a long roof (Tour) and all-wheel drive (x). If the Regal wagon arrives alongside the base sedan and GS as a 2018 model, we'd expect a debut within the next 15 or so months. That would place it right at the beginning of the 2017 auto show season, which starts next September in Frankfurt, Germany. With that in mind, it seems possible the new Regal would debut first as an Opel Insignia before appearing at a US show like Los Angeles or Detroit, although there's a lot of speculation going on there. We just want to see "Buick" and "wagon" in the same sentence again. Related Video:

2022 Buick Encore starts at $25,795

The Buick Encore entered the market here for the 2013 model year, its combination of solid, practical, and premium-ish content working well enough to increase sales by about 10% every year until 2019. The shine on that first-year model was such that it was recently voted one of the best used-car buys under $10,000. Still in its first generation, the Encore soldiers into the 2022 model year with a few small changes. The biggest update for the 2022 Encore is a newer 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine with more power. The previous unit produced 138 horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque; the new 1.4 will unleash 155 hp and 177 lb-ft. That engine will only be available on the Preferred trim — which is the only one left. In 2018, the Encore came in six flavors. Whittling reduced that to a base model and a Preferred model for 2021, and for next year the base departs. Also (kind of) under the hood, an electric heater and defroster replace the traditional heater core system, for faster toasties in cold climes.  The only change outside is the addition of an exterior temperature sensor. Inside, the eight-inch infotainment touchscreen shrinks to become a seven-inch touchscreen. The passenger's seatback will no longer fold flat, so Buick took the opportunity to add a seatback map pocket to the shotgun position. Buick will charge $25,795 for the 2022 Encore, that figure including the $1,195 destination charge. It's the same price as the 2021 Encore Preferred.  The continued paring of the lineup suggests GM is ready to wind the model down now that the tiny-bit-larger and more profitable Encore GX is killing the Encore in the sales race. Through the end of September, the Encore is down on its 2020 sales volume in the U.S. by about half, whereas the Encore GX has more than doubled its 2020 sales so far this year. Automotive News reported that the Encore will quit the U.S. market in 2023 without a replacement as the automaker digs into its electric efforts. GM Authority believes there's a chance the new-generation Encore sold in China could come here.