{"id":57533,"date":"2013-01-22T12:54:52","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T17:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=57533"},"modified":"2013-01-24T16:38:24","modified_gmt":"2013-01-24T21:38:24","slug":"buick-hopes-to-encore-with-new-compact-cuv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2013\/01\/buick-hopes-to-encore-with-new-compact-cuv\/","title":{"rendered":"Buick Hopes to Encore with New Compact CUV"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Buick Encore finally reaches U.S. showrooms.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s hard to overstate the importance of Buick\u2019s new Encore compact crossover-utility vehicle.<\/p>\n

Buick, which many didn\u2019t expect to survive parent General Motors\u2019 2009 bankruptcy, has been struggling to redefine itself in a market where it had, for the past several decades, become increasingly irrelevant.\u00a0 But there have been signs of revival and along with several other recent additions to the line-up, the maker will use the new Buick Encore to target young buyers who until now might not have even considered the brand.<\/p>\n

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Your Global Auto News Source!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to see new folks\u2026coming into the showroom,\u201d promises Encore marketing manager Lloyd Biermann, adding that, \u201cThey\u2019re going to be younger, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or so the maker hopes — and counts on — as it struggles to keep pace with the rest of the rebounding U.S. auto industry.<\/p>\n

Buick kicked off its comeback, a few years back, with the well-received Enclave, but while that full-size sport-utility vehicle has also been updated, the Encore is potentially more promising, some industry experts suggest.\u00a0 The compact crossover market has grown by about 200% over the past five years, according to industry data, and the pace increased last year, especially in the near-luxury niche that the Buick Encore is targeting.<\/p>\n

Going up against competitors ranging from the Mini Countryman to the BMW X1, the 2013 Buick Encore recently began rolling off a GM assembly line in South Korea and is just now starting to roll into American showrooms.<\/p>\n

The basic styling will be familiar to Buick fans, starting with the brand\u2019s time-tested waterfall grille.\u00a0 The new crossover is more up-market than similar size offerings in other divisions, reflecting Buick\u2019s position in the four-brand GM North American hierarchy, just below Cadillac.\u00a0 But at a starting price of $24,950 \u2013 plus destination fees \u2013 it is still within reach of the upwardly mobile young buyers Buick is setting out to attract.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the official 25 mpg City, 33 mpg Highway rating should play well in a market that is increasingly focused on fuel efficiency. The 2013 Buick Encore will come standard with a turbocharged 1.4-liter inline four.\u00a0 On the safety front, it offers a standard mix of features such as electronic stability control, 10 airbags and a rearview backup camera.<\/p>\n

With a fully-loaded price of $28,240, Buick expects to continue driving down the average age of its overall buyer \u2013 which has fallen from 64 to 57 over the past five years.\u00a0 It also anticipates women will make up about 60% of Encore buyers.<\/p>\n

GM officials acknowledge that the brand might have been abandoned \u2013 along with Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Hummer \u2013 after it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in mid-2009. But the maker was concerned that abandoning Buick at home would tarnish the brand\u2019s image in China, where it is now one of the market\u2019s biggest marques.\u00a0 (Dealers there ordered 6,000 of the Chinese Encore version during just its first month on sale last autumn.)<\/p>\n

Buick has regained some ground since the GM bailout but stuttered a bit last year. Sales were up just 1.6% over 2011, well behind the overall U.S. auto industry\u2019s roughly 15% gain. But company officials note they scaled back on fleet markets, so on the more profitable retail side, demand surged 6%, to the highest total in six years.<\/p>\n

Buick hopes that with a refreshed Enclave, a new Encore \u2013 and with updates of the midsize LaCrosse and compact Regal scheduled for later this year \u2013 it can now pick up more traction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s hard to understate the importance of the 2013 Buick Encore. The new compact crossover-utility vehicle is an essential piece in the planned revival of GM’s entry-luxury brand. As TheDetroitBureau.com reports, Encore will target younger buyers, the majority of them women, with a mix of price, fuel efficiency and features.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57533"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=57533"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=57533"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=57533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}