Buick rides on gasoline-powered crossover success

Buick's U.S. portfolio will remain mostly gasoline-powered through 2025, even as General Motors transitions to electric vehicles. The brand will ride on the strength of its crossovers after dropping its last sedan at the end of the 2020 model year.

"Their success in the crossover area keeps them a strong player as long as people buy internal-combustion vehicles, and [those are] going to be around for a while," said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions.

The next update to Buick's roster will be this year's freshening of the Enclave, which was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. More portfolio changes are expected in 2023, when Buick will shift volume away from its smallest crossover, the Encore, to the slightly larger Encore GX.

Encore: Buick likely will discontinue the subcompact crossover, at least for North America, in 2023. U.S. sales of the Encore plunged 37 percent in the first half of this year.

Encore GX: Buick plans to freshen the crossover in 2023 and redesign it in 2026. Sales of the Encore GX, which made its U.S. debut in early 2020, nearly quadrupled in the first half of the year.

Envision: The Envision will be freshened in 2024 after a 2021 redesign that lowered and widened the compact crossover, revamped the interior, and added safety and infotainment features and a premium trim package.

Enclave: Buick will freshen the large crossover in late 2021, with additional standard safety features, a cleaner interior and restyled front and rear ends. Inside, the center console is restyled with push-pull buttons in place of a traditional mechanical gearshift lever for a more spacious interior feel. The Enclave's face-lift originally was planned for the 2021 model. Buick will redesign the Enclave in 2024.

Electric crossover: In 2025, Buick is expected to launch an electric crossover for North America. The brand likely will launch a few EVs in China through 2025.