1958 Buick Century Hardtop 2-door 6.0l on 2040-cars

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GM investing $167m in Spring Hill for new midsize vehicles

General Motors has announced a large investment in its Spring Hill, Tennessee facility. The former home of Saturn production will be getting a $167 million addition to a previously announced $183 million, to cover a pair of new midsize vehicles. The investment is expected to create 1,800 jobs at the factory.
That $350 million is being divvied up for a pair of programs at Spring Hill. The first will take the bulk of the money ($223 million) and create 1,000 of the 1,800 jobs, while the other will take the remaining $127 million and generate the leftover 800 positions. But GM says the investment will cover "midsize vehicle programs." So what could they be?
The leading candidate in our minds is a new crossover for Buick, called the Anthem, that will slot between the Encore and Enclave, but will be slightly smaller than the Equinox and Terrain. As we've explained, the new model will likely be the first product to sport GM's new D2UX platform, which will eventually replace both the Delta and Theta platforms. Spring Hill is already building the Equinox, so there could be some credence to this theory.

Hyundai tops VW and Buick in China, survey says

You may be aware of the long-time competition in China between Volkswagen and Buick, but another brand apparently should be in that conversation too: Hyundai. In a recently published annual consumer survey, the Korean company actually took the top spot to beat out its German and American rivals in second and third, respectively. The results were part of the China Brand Power Index that interviewed 11,500 people around the nation and was paid for by the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. While Hyundai proved popular with voters, its sales haven't necessarily shown that yet. According to Bloomberg, the brand had falling numbers in China for the first quarter of the year. Even Ford outsold the South Korean automaker in the same period, despite scoring lower on the survey. Meanwhile, Audi ranked as the populace's favorite luxury brand, which is hardly a surprise given the Four Rings' strong sales in China. In January alone the automaker saw a 15-percent boost in volume there. Parent company VW's strong performance was somewhat more surprising, though. State media severely criticized the German automaker in March, and customers protested last year for the allegedly poor handling of a recall.

Buick unveils 2020 Encore and Encore GX in Shanghai

As expected, Buick pulled the covers off its refreshed Encore and brand-new Encore GX at the 2019 Shanghai Motor Show. It's not surprising that Buick would unveil these crossovers in China considering that's the automaker's largest market, but we expect at least one of these crossovers to come to the States to replace our current Encore, which has been Buick's best-selling model for the last three years. Buick hasn't yet release a whole lot of information about its new Encore twins besides coyly describing the GX as a longer-wheelbase version of the Encore. In reality, we think there's quite a bit of difference between these two Encores. The regular Encore is similarly sized to the current version, which is heavily based on the Opel Mokka, and it's probably based on an updated version of GM's Gamma II platform called GEM, which stands for Global Emerging Markets. 2020 Buick Encore for China View 2 Photos The larger Encore GX is likely sitting atop GM's newer VSS-F platform. We don't know exactly how much bigger the GX is than the regular Encore, but we wouldn't be surprised if it's this larger version that will be sold Stateside. An unknown range of four-cylinder Ecotec engines will be offered in China, paired to either a nine-speed automatic or optional continuously variable transmission. Regardless of what's underneath, these two Encore models share the same sense of style, and it's a look we can get behind. A wide winged grille is bisected by a chrome strip that carries the Buick Tri-Shield emblem front and center. The rest of the sheetmetal is taut and crisp, with concave bodysides and muscular flanks. We'll have to wait and see what tweaks are made to the American Encore, what powertrain it will feature, and when exactly it will go on sale. In the meantime, feel free to check out the gallery up above.