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Buick Enspire spied for the first time, loses concept's electric powertrain

About a year ago, Buick showed a high-performance electric crossover with wide, aggressive, curvy lines that was called the Buick Enspire. Now we have our first look at the production version. While it does seem to be styled like the crossover, it also seems to have lost its electric powertrain in favor of internal combustion. At the front of the crossover, we can clearly see it has the skinny, scowling headlights of the concept sitting high on the front fascia and flush with the hood. The main grille looks like it may be smaller, but it could also just be that the actual open section of the grille doesn't fill up the grille area of the fascia. In profile, the crossover has an attractive long nose, low roof and rising belt line. The rear shows the most change, as the rear pillars are much thicker, and the taillights don't appear to span the full width of the crossover. It's in the rear that we can also see the evidence that the Buick Enspire will actually be gasoline powered. Looking very closely under the rear bumper cover, we can see two exhaust tips turned to face the ground. Based on the size of the crossover, and the fact a Cadillac XT4 was being driven along with the prototype, the Enspire is probably using the XT4's platform, as well as its mechanical bits. That means it probably has a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 237 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. Power will also probably go through a nine-speed automatic to either the front wheels or all four. This prototype looks to be pretty far along, so we'll probably see the production version in about a year. Considering the Enspire's size and likely powertrain, it may even replace the similar Buick Envision. And since the Envision is Buick's worst selling crossover (unless you count the Regal TourX as one), it would be ripe for replacement.

Buick confirms US-market Envision CUV to be built in China

As expected, the Buick Envision will come to the US market in 2016, and as rumored, it'll be GM's first product imported from the People's Republic. Buick confirmed the news today, while also releasing a number of technical details on the mid-size CUV, which has sold nearly 130,000 units in the Chinese domestic market in the first 11 months of 2015. When it arrives in US dealers next summer, the Envision will feature a 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder EcoTec four-cylinder. Good for an estimated 252 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque, the four-pot turbo is paired to a well-received six-speed Hydra-Matic 6T70 transmission. That's the same automatic gearbox that's offered in the turbocharged Regal and Regal GS and the current six-cylinder LaCrosse. The entire affair is underpinned by torque-steer-fighting HiPer strut front suspension, a crossover first for Buick, with a four-link setup in back. According to Buick, the Envision will also get the same Active Twin Clutch all-wheel-drive system being offered on the Cadillac XT5 and the new LaCrosse. Like the Chinese-market Envision, Buick is offering the USDM model with active grille shutters, LED running lights, LED taillights, heated front/rear seats, a heated steering wheel, 19-inch wheels, and a Bose stereo as standard. Buick also lists highlights like Active Noise Cancellation and an eight-inch IntelliLink infotainment system, although it's not clear whether these are standard features. There's no word on which auto show the Envision will debut at. Considering the timing, next month's Detroit Auto Show is a strong contender, although if Buick wanted to really drum up headlines ahead of its on-sale date next summer, it'd formally introduce its newest CUV in April, at the New York Auto Show. Either way, expect to see more of this handsome, Chinese-built CUV soon. Related Video: Buick Envision North American Market Fact Sheet 2015-12-04 The Buick Envision was designed, engineered and tested in Michigan as a world-class luxury crossover to challenge the world's best competition. It was awarded Motor Trend SUV of the Year in China and has 127,085 sales so far this year. When it goes on sale in 2016, it will play an important role in a crossover lineup that currently represents 60 percent of Buick sales in North America. It targets customers shopping between the Encore, the best-selling Buick in eight years, and the Enclave, which has continued to grow its customer base since its 2007 introduction.

Junkyard Gem: 1973 Buick LeSabre Custom Hardtop Sedan

The steps on Alfred Sloan's "Ladder of Success," in which you'd start your career by buying a Chevrolet and then move up through the GM marques as your wealth increased, stayed rigidly fixed from the 1930s into the late 1960s. By the early 1970s, though, "prestige creep" among The General's divisions had set in, with lower-zoot marques leapfrogging their betters with ballooning price tags and snob appeal; a fully-loaded Chevy Caprice could cost more than an Olds 98, a Pontiac Bonneville could out-snoot a Buick LeSabre, and the LeSabre itself came to threaten mighty Cadillac at the top of the GM pyramid. Here's a fully depreciated '73 LeSabre Custom Hardtop Sedan, once the picture of Malaise Era opulence but now brought down to earth in a San Jose self-service car graveyard. The high-rollingest of all LeSabres in 1973 was the Custom (though shoppers for full-sized 1973 Buicks really wishing to rub the noses of their lessers in their success could opt for the even pricier Centurion or Electra 225), and that's what I found among the Achievas and Cateras of this yard's GM section. Wasps now nest in the rust holes caused by rainwater seeping beneath the padded vinyl roof, but this car once told the world, "I've made it!" It went without saying that your big, comfy Detroit luxury sedan had a big, comfy front bench seat; let those frivolous rakehells in their Rivieras have their bucket seats. Believe it or not, a three-on-the-tree column-shift manual transmission was still standard equipment on the lower-level Buick Century in 1973, but all LeSabre buyers enjoyed two-pedal luxury that year. Some junkyard shopper grabbed the massive 455-cubic-inch (7.5-liter) V8 — rated at 225 horsepower, due to Nixon's stricter emissions standards and the switch from gross to net horsepower ratings — before I got here. I'm guessing this car got driven into the ground by the early 2000s (there's a 2001 calendar inside) and then spent the next couple of decades bleaching in the harsh South Bay sun before arriving here. So good, shoppers bought them sight unseen!