Buick News
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We drove the prototype, and liked it. Now we've driven the real thing. We still like it. In this case, "it" is the 2012 Buick Lacrosse with eAssist, the only four-cylinder model that Buick offers in its Lacrosse large luxury sedan. While large Buicks aren't known for their gas mileage, this one is rated by the EPA at 29 mpg combined--no, that's not the highway number--which is higher than most of its non-hybrid competition. Over a weekend road test of 270 miles, we got an overall gas mileage of 30.2 mpg--on our usual route, which is about two-thirds highway and one-third around-town and...
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Buick Verano Hybrid Coming--But Not Until 2015
Remember The Purloined Letter, the classic Edgar Allen Poe story where a letter is hidden by storing it in plain sight? General Motors may not have realized it, but the industry trade journal Automotive News seems to have published a previously unannounced piece of its future model plans--right out...
John Voelcker -
2012 Buick Lacrosse eAssist: TV Ad Sells MPGs, Avoids H-Word (Video)
The 2012 Buick Lacrosse with eAssist is now beginning to roll into dealerships across the country, and we've been curious to see how GM would market the car. On our preview drive this spring of a prototype Lacrosse with eAssist, we noticed that the dreaded H-word (hybrid) had been virtually...
John Voelcker -
2012 Buick Regal With eAssist Mild Hybrid Priced At $29,530
Buick announced today that it would offer the eAssist mild-hybrid technology on its mid-size 2012 Regal sedan as a $2,000 option over the base 2.4-liter model. That brings the price of the 2012 Buick Regal with eAssist to $29,530, including a mandatory $860 destination charge. The EPA rates the...
John Voelcker -
2012 Buick Lacrosse eAssist 37-MPG Sedan Priced At $30,820 (With Destination)
Buick announced today that it would price the four-cylinder version of its 2012 Lacrosse large sedan at $29,960. That sneaks the advertised price neatly under the $30,000 mark, although a mandatory $860 destination charge means buyers will see a sticker of at least $30,820 before they start adding...
John Voelcker -
Buick Envision Concept: Plug-In Hybrid SUV From Shanghai
The guessing games continue, with General Motors releasing more details about its Buick Envision concept car that give tantalizing hints of a concept stuffed with technology, but without the benefit of too many metrics. Following the release of a sketch two weeks ago, now GM has released a whole...
John Voelcker -
Let's be real: How many of you out there have ever driven a single mile on E85 ethanol fuel? Very, very, very few of you, most likely. The fuel composed of 85 percent ethanol blended with 15 percent gasoline is available only in a handful of Midwestern states. Yet a bill now under consideration by a panel in the U.S. Senate would mandate that 90 percent of vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2016 be capable of running on E85, or what are known colloquially as "flex-fuel" cars. The measure was introduced in January by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), and is cosponsored by three other farm-state senators...
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Report Threatens Badge-Engineered Buick Model Of Chevy Volt
General Motors and its brand strategies have been through a lot of turmoil in recent years. Now, GM is down to just four brands in North America--Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac--and is rapidly taking Chevrolet global, including its Malibu midsize model. Buick survived only because of its...
John Voelcker -
Buick Envision Plug-In Hybrid SUV Concept: Auto Shanghai Preview
It's unfortunate that the media days for the Auto Shanghai 2011 Show and the New York Auto Show overlap a couple of weeks hence, because it looks like Shanghai might get the lion's share of the cool introductions. Take, for instance, the single teaser sketch released today of the new Buick Envision...
John Voelcker -
FIRST DRIVE: 2012 Buick Lacrosse 37-MPG eAssist Prototype
To date, Buick and "fuel economy" haven't often been used in the same sentence. But the 2012 Buick LaCrosse, the brand's largest surviving car, will offer one engine option that's projected to deliver 25 mpg city, 37 mpg highway. That's not bad for a midsize near-luxury sedan (though 1 mpg lower on...
John Voelcker -
What's Good For GM Is...Good For The Environment?
We asked last year if the new GM would be a cleantech play. It’s looking more and more like that’s the case. Yesterday, the company announced it would be rolling out a hybrid technology system called eAssist in the Buick Regal 2012 that will boost fuel economy by 25 percent. The system...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
2012 Buick Regal Gets Some Green Help From eAssist
Last year we saw the return of the Buick Regal, but it surprised reviewers and consumers alike. The Regal revealed itself as being on par with cars like the Acura TSX, Nissan Maxima and Ford Focus. Maybe it was the European design or the power combined with class competitive fuel economy that made...
Jonathan McGrew -
The rumors started last week, and they were largely true: Buick plans to offer a model of its Regal compact sports sedan with the eAssist mild-hybrid system. What we didn't have were the projected EPA mileage ratings (based on GM's internal tests). The company expects the 2012 Buick Regal with eAssist to be rated at 26 mpg city, 37 mpg highway, making it the most economical Buick model for 2012. Unlike the larger 2012 Buick LaCrosse, which will fit the eAssist system as standard on the 2.4-liter Ecotec engine, the 2012 Regal will offer a base 2.4-liter engine without the system, and a version...
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Chicago Auto Show Preview: 2012 Buick Regal With eAssist Option
Buick plans to add its eAssist mild-hybrid system to the 2012 Regal sedan as an option, making the Regal its second model to offer the mileage-increasing system. According to trade publication Ward's Auto, Buick will introduce the option at the Chicago Auto Show next week. Last November, General...
John Voelcker -
GM Enters Compact Luxury Segment With 2012 Buick Verano
While the styling of Buick’s new compact sedan has been known for some time now (a version of the car was unveiled last year in China as the Excelle GT), we finally get a look at the North American model, which will be making its official debut next week at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show. Set to...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Chevy's Got the Volt; Will Cadillac Be GM's Hybrid Leader?
Among car buyers, none of the four surviving General Motors brands are really associated with hybrid vehicles. Now that customer deliveries have started for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car, GM's other brands will need some green cred too. What's the future of GM's Two-Mode...
John Voelcker -
GM Mild Hybrids: If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again
The 2011 Chevrolet Volt has gotten all the attention lately, including a narrow second-place finish in our GreenCarReports 2011 Best Car To Buy award, but General Motors also has a significant hybrid-electric vehicle program. While its full-size Two-Mode Hybrid trucks have had mixed success, the...
John Voelcker -
GM Resurrects Mild Hybrid System For 2012 Buick LaCrosse
As we first reported more than a year ago, a beefier version of GM’s mild hybrid system, the kind that was on the previous Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid, is coming next year. Set to debut on the 2012 Buick LaCrosse, GM’s new “eAssist” mild hybrid system is said to improve fuel...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
The new compact sedan from Buick is expected to be built in Michigan, and General Motors is preparing to announce the vehicle tomorrow at a press conference in its home state. The 2012 Buick Verano will be an upgraded version of the Chevrolet Cruze sedan, which is new for 2011. The Verano exists today in the form of the Buick Excelle, an almost identical version of the car U.S. dealers will see by the end of 2011. GM is expected to announce tomorrow that the American version of the sedan will be built in Orion Township, Michigan, at the assembly plant being reconfigured for production of the...
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The 2011 Chevy Volt: Made Alongside GM's Gas-Guzzling V8s
Think of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt and very little seems conventional about it. With a range of 40 miles per charge and a range-extending gasoline engine used to provide extra power when the battery pack is depleted, Chevrolet is keen to push the car’s green credentials. Built at the Hamtramck...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Buick Regal Touts German Engineering In New Commercials
A Move That Might Have Some Up In Arms
Jonathan McGrew -
GM Greens Its Auto ACs With Greenhouse-Gas-Friendly Coolant
Among the many substances emitted by autos back in the "good old days" were the refrigerant gases that would leak from older auto air conditioners. Freon, also known as R-12, was replaced starting in the early 1990s with R-134a, which did less damage to the ozone layer. Now concern has expanded to...
John Voelcker -
Buick’s New Compact Sedan Launched In China, Coming To U.S. In 2011
General Motors is yet to launch the local version of its 2011 Chevrolet Cruze sedan but instead of speeding up its arrival the automaker is working on a new Buick sedan based on the same platform. This platform is GM’s Delta II architecture, which in addition to the Cruze, also underpins the Opel...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
2011 Chevrolet Volt To Be Sold In China, But As A Buick
General Motors may be trying to spread Chevrolet through Europe and Asia, but it won't put the Chevy bowtie on its Volt extended-range electric vehicle when that car goes on sale in China next year. Instead, the car that hits U.S. dealerships this November as the 2011 Chevrolet Volt will be sold in...
John Voelcker