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2016 Buick Envision might be your first Chinese-built crossover

At the Detroit Auto Show, the new Envision crossover flips the traditional Buick paridigm on its head. We've been hearing for years about strong sales of the Buick brand in China, but now we'll see if North America is ready for a Chinese-built (but, as GM is very quick to point out, American-engineered) CUV. The Envision rides on the latest version of the Delta 2 platform that underpins many GM vehicles. It'll slot between the tiny Encore and the cavernous Enclave, which is a nice sweet spot for volume sales in the hot crossover market. Gas is cheap, and Americans are eating these vehicles up – in a market like this, does it really matter where the Envision was actually screwed together? The powertrain package is surprisingly compelling – perhaps there will be some life to the driving experience. Motivation is provided by a 252-horsepower turbo inline-four and a six-speed auto, and in a first for a Buick crossover, it'll feature the torque-steer fighting HiPer suspension, which splits up steering and suspension duties in a way that'll tidy up the front axle's manners under power. A few other neat tricks make it into the Envision, like active grille shutters to squeeze some extra efficiency out of the CUV, and available park assist. The 2016 Buick Envision goes on sale later this year. Buick Introduces Envision Luxury Crossover DETROIT – The 2016 Envision is an all-new luxury compact crossover with segment-challenging driving dynamics, advanced technology, connectivity and Buick's trademark interior acoustics. It is a global vehicle, designed from the ground up as a Buick luxury compact crossover. It goes on sale in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2016. "The all-new Buick Envision is a modern, confident and responsive luxury compact crossover that combines the brand's core characteristics with great performance features like our HiPer strut suspension," said Duncan Aldred, vice president of Buick.

PSA's purchase of Opel from GM is expected to be finalized soon

PSA's purchase of the Opel/Vauxhall division from General Motors is expected to be officially announced on Monday, according to The New York Times. PSA, the parent company of European automakers Peugeot and Citroen, will reportedly hold a joint press conference with GM in Paris to announce the deal. GM has worked as part of an alliance with PSA in Europe since 2012. The deal could be a big boon for both companies. For PSA, the addition of Opel and Vauxhall into its fold would catapult the automaker into second place behind Volkswagen for European marketshare, and would allow the company to spend research and development costs across a greater number of vehicles. And GM, which has struggled in recent years to turn a profit with its European division, would be able to focus more squarely on the areas where it's most profitable and to invest in future technologies like automation. But the deal isn't without its potential pitfalls, primarily for PSA. GM hasn't been able to make a success of Opel and Vauxhall, and it's not a sure bet that PSA will, either. What's more, the addition of Opel and Vauxhall doesn't expand PSA's reach any further into new markets, like China or India. The NYT cites data from Ferdinand Dudenhoffer, a professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, showing that 70 percent of PSA and Opel business is done in Europe, a market that has been shrinking since 1999. We'll have to wait a few days to see exactly how the deal between PSA and GM will be structured. We're also curious to see how the loss of Opel may affect GM's lineup in the States, especially for Buick, since the company's Regal sedan is based on the European Opel Insignia. In other words, stay tuned. Related Video:

GM China President says automaker could export vehicles from China to US

At a press conference on Saturday at the Shanghai Motor Show, General Motors announced plans to further expand its presence in the Chinese market. Among those commitments are plans to build four new plants by the end of 2015, giving the automaker the capacity to produce around five million vehicles a year in the country.
In order to make the most of that expansion, GM is adding 400 dealerships in China this year alone (for a total of 4,200 sales points), and it's eyeing 5,100 dealers by 2015. Yet not all of that production will stay in China - GM is planning to increase exports as well. Officials estimate the company will export somewhere between 100,000 and 130,000 Chinese-built vehicles this year - a record. And it's gunning for more.
Autoblog asked GM China president Bob Socia (above) if that means the company might eventually export new vehicles built in China to the United States, and he responded: