Photo: Buick
Introduced in 2014 for the 2016 model year then facelifted for 2019, the Envision is the first Buick to be imported into the United States of America from the People’s Republic of China. If you’ve been keeping up with the tensions between the two countries, you might remember that presidents Trump and Jinping are duking it out by means of a trade war.
As you’re well aware, this doesn’t sit well with Buick. Being built in China, the Envision could be eliminated from the U.S. lineup of the American automaker unless the nameplate is exempt from 25-percent import tariff. President of General Motors, Dan Ammann, sees the exemption as “the only way” to continue offering the Envision in the United States.
As reported by Automotive News, the premium brand from the General Motors stable isn’t the only one affected by the trade war. And if you look deeper into the U.S. lineup, you’ll notice that the plug-in hybrid version of the Cadillac CT6 is also manufactured in the Middle Kingdom.
If push comes to shove, General Motors will take measures. “The profitability that we generate on that vehicle, selling it in the U.S. market, we obviously reinvest in the business here so we think it’s in everybody’s interest for that to continue,” said Ammann. On the other hand, don’t forget that the United States accounts for 15 percent of the automaker’s 1.4 million sales in 2017, with the People’s Republic making up 83 percent.
Over in China, the Envision sold 210,000 examples last year compared to 42,000 in the U.S. of A. And whichever way you look at it, 42,000 sales in the automaker’s domestic market aren’t enough to support a manufacturing plant in America.
An entity that would be happy to see the Envision go is the UAW. Union president Dennis Williams calls it “Invasion” whenever the opportunity to take a jab at General Motors arises, pointing the finger at how more and more nameplates from GM are being sourced from outside the United States.
As reported by Automotive News, the premium brand from the General Motors stable isn’t the only one affected by the trade war. And if you look deeper into the U.S. lineup, you’ll notice that the plug-in hybrid version of the Cadillac CT6 is also manufactured in the Middle Kingdom.
If push comes to shove, General Motors will take measures. “The profitability that we generate on that vehicle, selling it in the U.S. market, we obviously reinvest in the business here so we think it’s in everybody’s interest for that to continue,” said Ammann. On the other hand, don’t forget that the United States accounts for 15 percent of the automaker’s 1.4 million sales in 2017, with the People’s Republic making up 83 percent.
Over in China, the Envision sold 210,000 examples last year compared to 42,000 in the U.S. of A. And whichever way you look at it, 42,000 sales in the automaker’s domestic market aren’t enough to support a manufacturing plant in America.
An entity that would be happy to see the Envision go is the UAW. Union president Dennis Williams calls it “Invasion” whenever the opportunity to take a jab at General Motors arises, pointing the finger at how more and more nameplates from GM are being sourced from outside the United States.
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