Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Longer-wheelbase model slips in between Encore and Envision

Source

Fizzboy7

Is this based on the Blazer?
Seems awfully crowded in GM-SUVland. Good way to erode their own sales with too many models. History repeats itself with GM model sharing.

Toys4RJill

Whatever the case may be. GM has lost IMO a lot of good will with all of their US and Canada plant closures. Regardless of where they send this unit to be built, I hope they realize that is a poor decision to import the Envision and Blazer from low cost countries at the expense of the US plants. Hope nobody buys it.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

looks great! will sell!!

situman

I keep seeing GX in the title and it got me all excited, then I was sad to see Buick and Encore before it.

tex2670

Outside of Car Chat and the POTUS Twitter feed, I have not encountered anyone that has complained about GM plant closures or said that GM has lost their good will. For the vast majority of people who aren't "car" people, they buy what they like, without regard to factors like that.

Toys4RJill

Maybe the case. GM sales in North America are down 7% in 2019. Actions do speak louder than words. Who knows really?

mmarshall

Jill is correct. That 7% is a early-warning sign of possibly much worse things to come. GM and Ford have both really gotten themselves into hot water by closing or redoing so many plants and dropping passenger cars. I think you strongly underestimate how much both companies have made enemies, all the way up to the highest levels of both the U.S. and Canadian governments. What's more, where I live (D.C. suburbs), gas prices are rising by the day....not a good sign for the future sale of large trucks and SUVs.

Toys4RJill

I think the plan was originally to import the sedans from Mexico or China. This is why Buick as well as Cadillac were making their large sedan’s in two locations China and the United States.That all got derailed with the The current political climate

mmarshall

It got derailed because GM and Ford simply are not satisfied with what they make per unit with most of the U.S.-market sedans. So, dropping them, and introducing more SUVs, is a covert, underhanded way of forcing customers out of sedans (without actually saying so)....hoping that most of us are too dumb to notice.

Karma, though, is going to come around.....just wait and see.

tex2670

It's not an early warning sign about negative feedback for plant closures. Considering the mega-thread about GM discontinuing so many sedans, it seems pretty logical sales are down. (1) If sedans were selling great, why discontinue them? (2) There are plenty of people that would balk at purchasing a model that's being discontinued.

MattyG

Looks like they'll use this Encore GX to segment the market some more and prop up sales numbers. The Chinese made Envision is down 21% in sales for first quarter 2019. Theoretically crossovers should have helped mitigate the -7% overall sales decline at GM and that doesn't appear to have happened. Pickups though, are still selling really well for the company, and they're made in the US.

mmarshall

Well, time will tell. And, right now, things don't look very good....have not for months.

That was a mega-thread for good reason. The sheer number of views indicated a lot of interest in it, even among those who did not post.


Simple. As I said before, trucks and SUVs (particularly the larger ones) make the company more profit per unit. The aim is to try and force people into them, whether they want them or not, though it is true that many people already do want them...that part, I'll concede.

No offense, but this is not rocket science by any means........a monkey could figure it out.

Absolutely....I agree 100%. Who wants to take a chance getting stuck with a vehicle that may have been assembled carelessly, by plant-workers scheduled for layoff, worried about their future and their families, unable to keep their mind on their work? Or, even worse, with a vehicle deliberately sabotaged by disgruntled workers as a way of getting back at the company? I can fully understand their concern.....one reason why I myself did not trade up to one of the few 2019 Lacrosses built.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

ok well this monkey who isn't a rocket scientist thinks you're wrong. car companies can't "force" consumers into anything, only the government can do that (monopoly on power). if you don't like gm products you're free to buy from someone else. your 'theory' about gm dropping sedans to force people to buy trucks and suvs because they make more profit is only true in the following sense... yes they make more profit on suvs and trucks because less and less people want sedans so they can only sell them with more and more incentives and thinner margins. at some point gm concluded it was a waste of time (not profitable) to sell some mainstream sedans and are giving up on them. i haven't followed a lot of this because i don't really care, but besides the lacrosse, what other mainstream gm sedans are they canceling, impala? malibu?

i also don't get this clinging onto the idea of sedans, because the lines today are so blurred... i guess you're in love with a trunk? because cuvs/suvs have rear hatches. do you consider a kia soul a cuv? or a hatchback? if it's not a cuv, is a hatchback, i guess that's not a 'sedan'... [looks up definition]: "an automobile having a closed body and a closed trunk separated from the part in which the driver and passengers sit; a sedan."

consumers used to not like suvs because the fuel economy was much worse, but that's changed as you know... so they overwhelmingly prefer the convenience of suvs/cuvs which are available in all sizes. the higher step in height and seating position is more comfortable to most consumers. but obviously sedans still sell in HUGE numbers... accords, camrys, avalons, lexus es, etc. ... they're not going away, but yes, gm and ford have decided they can't compete with those other (japanese-brand) sedans.

this buick encore gx though, looks like a perfect fit for a huge number of american consumers. i've wanted to test drive an encore in the past but it 'looks' too small to me, this gx looks much more attractive and practical imo.

in a couple of years though buick (gm) will run into the buzz saw of the tesla model y, but the latter is likely to cost 50% or more higher than this buick.

tex2670

This.^^^

Sorry @mmarshall , but your logic makes no sense. Car companies make more profit on large cars than compact cars; on luxury cars than mainstream cars. If car manufacturers could play Jedi mind tricks on customers by discontinuing cars that sell for less profit, even though they are popular, and forcing customers to buy cars that are more profitable, they would have done it decades ago.

I know you love your Buick sedan, and you don't want to believe that you are in a waning customer class. But it is reality. It's been over 20 years since the "crossover" class became a thing; it's not a fad anymore. It's here to stay, and so far, it hasn't shown any signs of being a maturing market, with sales plateauing. Clearly, GM and Ford (and others) think that there is still hefty upside.

Porsche makes a hefty profit on all of its vehicles--guess what its best selling model is? Hint: an SUV.

Lambo and Rolls are in the SUV game now; Ferrari might be getting in. It is NOT to force customers out of sports cars and sedans to make more profit.

Trust me--people want SUVs. Maybe not in the communities you circulate in, but overall--this is today's reality. No one is asking you to like it--but your constant denial of it just undercuts your arguments on the subject. There is not a big conspiracy out there against the American public.