Yahoo Autos The Buick LaCrosse Gets a Nice Facelift for China, Is Still Dead in America
Buick has facelifted the LaCrosse for the China market.
The large sedan gets a sleeker front end and nicer interior trim.
General Motors ended U.S. production for the LaCrosse last month, along with other cars from its brands.
Ahead of the Shanghai auto show, which is happening in mid-April, Buick has released the first photos and information of the facelifted LaCrosse sedan. Usually, a minor facelift for a car like this isn't something we would find especially notable, but the LaCrosse is an exception: The facelift is being released after the LaCrosse has died.
General Motors announced last fall that in March 2019 it would be ending all production at its Hamtramck, Michigan, plant where the LaCrosse and the Cadillac CT6 are built (among other plant closings). March 2019, as you might be aware, was mere days ago. "So," you ask, "now that LaCrosse is no longer, why are they facelifting it?" The answer is simple: China. Buick's biggest market is China, and the LaCrosse is still built at its factory in Shanghai. So the LaCrosse lives on!
The LaCrosse's new front end is a lot sleeker and falls in line with newer models in the Buick lineup including the Enclave crossover. There's a large hexagonal grille with a chrome surround that extends underneath the thinner LED headlights. Redesigned faux side vents, a rear spoiler, and different wheel designs are new. Buick says that the LaCrosse draws inspiration from the new design language started with the Avista concept, which we can see, and it also says that the LaCrosse "adds aesthetic elements of sports cars." That we can't really see.
Buick also has redesigned the LaCrosse's interior, but no photos of it have been released. There are upgrades such as "French double stitching and Galvano electroplated trim," and new Moon White mood lighting allegedly "creates a tranquil and soft atmosphere." Unlike the U.S.-market LaCrosse, which was offered with a choice of a 2.5-liter inline-four hybrid or a 3.6-liter V-6, the China-market car uses a new turbocharged 2.0-liter four.
It is a shame to see a nice facelift, for a car that we actually liked, denied to us. GM's reasoning for shutting down the LaCrosse's plant was to increase cash flow and focus on electric cars, trucks, and SUVs. Throughout the now discontinued model's life span in the United States, sales never topped 28,000 units a year, a far cry from the average of around 53,000 a year between 2010 and 2015. In total, Buick sold around 670,000 LaCrosse cars in the U.S. since the model's introduction in 2004. But since the LaCrosse went on sale in China in 2006, more than 1.2 million have been sold. Yes, you read that right-twice the amount of sales in less time, and not even in the brand's home market. So, to that end, we can't really blame Buick for killing the LaCrosse here but keeping it around where it is much more successful, but we're still sad to see fewer real car offerings in the States.
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