Buick May Source Envision Small Crossover From China

In reality, Jeep was expanding its manufacturing presence in China at the time, not moving any U.S.jobs.

China is the largest market for the Buick brand, with sales last year of 919,582 vehicles, more than four times the 228,963 vehicles that Buick sold in the United States. Or it could be an opportunity for the union to present a business case for assembling in the U.S. the vehicle known in China as the Envision.

It turns out General Motors Company [NYSE:GM] first polled dealers back in 2013 about the prospects of a small crossover being added to Buick’s lineup, something to bridge the gap between the subcompact Encore and mid-size Enclave.

Although U.S. sales of the China-built Envision seem fairly likely at this point, there are a few hurdles to clear.

The UAW said Tuesday it plans to address during contract negotiations the speculation that General Motors Co.is considering importing a Buick SUV to the U.S. from China. That’s a hot segment.

The UAW is now in the midst of negotiating new labor pacts with GM, Ford and FCA, which owns the Chrysler (Xetra: 710000 – news) brands. Forecasters say Buick would only sell about 20,000-30,000 units of the Envision annually in the U.S.

Estrada also said such a move would go against GM’s pledge to build cars in the markets where they’re sold.

The Detroit automaker has not formally announced any plans on this front. (SAIC) to develop a new family of Chevrolet models for China, India, Brazil and Mexico.

Vehicles that were repaired under the first recall in November of 2014 will have to be repaired again because the replacement part can fail and cut off the headlights, spokesman Alan Adler said. The vehicle is built in Shanghai for the China market.

We’ve already spied the midsize Buick crossover testing on Michigan roads and, it’s a near certainty the CUV will hit the U.S. market sometime in 2016, with most guesses pointing towards mid next year.

“As the Chinese market continues to slow down, they’re going to be looking for ways to keep the capacity going in China by exporting”, AutoPacific’s Sullivan said. “I don’t think this means U.S. consumers will be more inclined to accept a Chinese automaker”. “But it’s something that I think would probably be short-lived”. The quality of those products has given consumers confidence in the quality of products made in that country.

Even so, analysts don’t expect GM to make it obvious the Buick Envision comes from China, if it decides to make the move.