New Buick PHEV.
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Buick has been selling a popular Minivan in China for decades called the GL8. The current 4th generation came out in 2022 and is already getting ready for a few changes, inside and out.
Among these changes will be the addition of a PHEV version. It will be powered by a 1.5 Liter Turbo engine and electric motors. The Hybrid will be faster than the regular 2.0 Liter model, and its total range will be rated at over 625 miles. However, there is no information yet about its pure EV range.
The Buick GL8 is the exact same length as a Honda Odyssey, which is not a small vehicle. It is very interesting to see GM using their PHEV tech in such a large van. Of course, many large cars and SUVs sold in China do have small powertrains, like the new Cadillac CT6 with a 1.5 Liter Turbo.
It still shows GM thinks their PHEV powertrains can be used in large cars and SUVs. They announced a few months ago that a few new PHEV models will indeed be sold in the US, which is a great idea. The most obvious one would be the new 2025 Chevrolet Equinox PHEV, also coming soon in China. But the prospect of maybe having a PHEV version for larger models like the new Chevrolet Traverse and others is quite interesting.
And why wouldn’t they offer PHEV in Trax and Envista? These are already sold with the 1.5 engine in China, I guess this PHEV system would be a breeze to install in those 2 cars as well, and would make wonder with their fuel consumption. This is already a Buick system made for the Velite 6.
GM is one of those companies in the US market that keeps throwing darts and often misses the entire dart board. I like what they’ve done with the Chevy Trax and Buick Envista, and its got a small engine. But GM seems petrified to put the rest of their lineup into a better position, even by offering these smaller engines w/hybrid tech. That Buick should be shipped to dealers here ASAP, since most didn’t want EVs.