Bougie Buick

BIG IN THE PRC, Buick Envisions Success For Its New Compact Crossover In The USA.

- Christian Seabaugh

There’s an inherent risk when bringing a vehicle primarily designed for a foreign market to the United States. For all this talk about globalism, there’s no accounting for regional tastes. The reborn Pontiac GTO—a rebadged Aussie-spec Holden Monaro—didn’t work, whereas the Volkswagen Type I Beetle—designed for pre–World War II Germany—was an unlikely success story. Although sales will ultimately measure the success of the new 2017 Buick Envision in the eyes of GM, the madein-China Buick will have an uphill battle among consumers in an entrenched compact luxury crossover segment.

On sale in the People’s Republic of China since 2014 and available in limited quantities to the U.S. last year, the new Envision represents a product development effort focused on the Chinese market, where Buick is tremendously successful. Buick will tell you the Envision was designed from the ground up as a global vehicle in the U.S. But there’s no denying that the Chinese market heavily influenced the Envision’s design, including features such as its big back seat and humpless floor, which are less important to American buyers who statistically don’t use the back seat often.

To be fair, designing a vehicle to the tastes of your primary market is good business. Buick sold upward of 130,000 Envisions in China last year, a decent chunk of its almost 1 million in sales in the country. In the U.S., Buick sold a hair over 220,000 vehicles total. So, yeah, China is important.