Oh Americans, you must have thought you were so special. The European and Asian automakers spent years developing models specifically for your market. Cars like the Honda Pilot and Toyota Avalon… they were just for you! Well, guess what? You’re old news now. There’s a huge market out there and it’s being lavished with attention, including exclusive new models. I’m talking of course about China. Even the American Big 3 automakers are rushing to woo Chinese consumers with unique offerings.
While the ageing D3 platform Ford Taurus trudges along with no updates in North America, Chinese buyers have an all-new Taurus available to them. Based on the CD4 platform underpinning the Ford Fusion and Lincoln Continental, the Chinese Taurus is available with three different engines: the Fusion’s turbocharged 1.5 four-cylinder, the turbocharged 2.0 EcoBoost four from the Fusion and the North American Taurus, and the twin-turbocharged 2.7 V6 found in the F-150 and Fusion Sport.
As the entire world continues to embrace crossovers – truly a remarkable example of global tastes converging – the Chinese still have a lingering fondness for sedans. Despite this, the Chinese Taurus isn’t selling in the volumes Ford would like and indeed their entire lineup is struggling in China.
One thing the Chinese Taurus appears to have hugely improved over the American model is interior packaging. The American Taurus has a surprisingly confining cabin for a car with such large exterior dimensions, while the Chinese Taurus is spacious. As with many sedans in China, special attention has been given to the rear seat accommodations.
Given its shared platform and engines, it would seem as though the Chinese Taurus could be easily offered in North America. But Ford doubtless sees the futility in such a move—Taurus sales are down, a Fusion replacement has yet to be officially confirmed, and the Police Interceptor sedan is being outsold by the Explorer-based Interceptor Utility at a rate of almost 6-to-1. I imagine the Taurus will soon meet its demise in North America and, if the Taurus doesn’t gain traction in China, the Chinese model could also end up on the chopping block.
While Ford may be faltering in China, GM is performing swimmingly as usual. Buick is GM’s most successful brand in China, with twice as much market share as Chevrolet and more even than GM’s budget brands Baojun and Wuling. Until last year, Buick was also enjoying a meteoric rise in the burgeoning Chinese market, although it remains to be seen if 2017 was a mere hiccup. While the full American Buick range is sold in China (except the Cascada), Buick also has some vehicles exclusive to China. The oldest nameplate of this group is the GL8.
The GL8 started as a locally-produced, mildly restyled version of the GM U-Body minivan in 2000. It’s now in its third generation, although it remains underpinned by a revised version of the U-Body platform.
The latest series of GL8 has a new front and rear suspension – finally ditching the rear beam axle for an independent set-up – and now uses GM’s ubiquitous 2.0 turbocharged four. This replaces the 2.4 naturally-aspirated four and 3.0 V6 in the previous GL8. There’s also a posh new Avenir range-topper, as with the new LaCrosse and Enclave.
While the GL8 uses old components underneath its modern (if rather awkward) sheetmetal, the interior is contemporary and strongly reminiscent of other Buicks like the Envision and LaCrosse.
As is common in the Chinese market, the previous generation remains on sale and even the 2000-vintage model was offered up until recently. Confusingly, Buick didn’t change the name of the first two series even after they were technically replaced.
The popular GL8 was joined late last year by the smaller GL6, using the much more modern Opel Zafira platform. This relatively handsome new MPV seats five or six, the latter in a 2+2+2 format.
The only powertrain available in the GL6 is a turbocharged 1.3 four-cylinder with 160 hp and 169 ft-lbs.
In the past few years, Buick and Opel have become increasingly aligned. With the latter’s sale to PSA, it’s unclear what will happen with next-generation versions of current Opel-based Buicks like the Regal and GL6. Another Buick with an uncertain future is the Verano GS, effectively a rebadged Opel Astra with sporty trim.
In sharp contrast to the more sedately styled sedans in Buick’s Chinese lineup, the Verano GS is a sporty, compact hatchback. To drive the point home, Buick has added carbon fiber trim to the Astra’s interior as well as numerous red accents both inside and out.
All Verano GS hatchbacks also come with red brake calipers and a turbocharged 1.5 with 166 hp and 184 ft-lbs, mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. There’s also a more sedate Verano hatchback with a naturally-aspirated 1.5 four-cylinder, producing 116 hp and 107 ft-lbs and mated to a six-speed automatic. The Verano hatch replaced the Excelle XT, a rebadged version of the previous Opel Astra.
The use of the Excelle XT name (and Excelle GT on the previous Verano) was a tad confusing as, for many years, the Buick Excelle was the brand’s best-selling model and little more than a Daewoo Lacetti in thin disguise, sold simultaneously alongside the newer and better (if pricier) XT and GT. Now, the Verano nameplate has been introduced to China, both on the aforementioned hatchback and a new-generation of the sedan. While the Verano sedan was axed in North America, the Chinese can buy a new Verano sedan on the D2XX (Cruze/Astra) platform.
The exterior is as conservative as it was before but the interior is even more elegant than the old Verano. Powertrains are the same as in the Verano hatch.
Buick didn’t discard the venerable and popular Excelle nameplate. The Buick Excelle remains, slotted under the Verano hatch and sedan in the Chinese lineup. It was completely redesigned in 2015, shifting to a new, Chinese platform. A far cry from its aged Daewoo-derived predecessor, the Excelle GT can even be had with the ever-so-slightly bigger Verano’s dual-clutch auto.
There’s also an attractive station wagon version, called the Excelle GX.
You may be seeing a theme here: while many of these cars share platforms with American-market models, they all have unique exteriors and interiors. Not all Chinese models follow that pattern, however. Take a look at the Buick Velite.
Yes, this is simply a Chevrolet Volt with Buick badging. While the Volt is certainly an attractive and capable vehicle, it’s a far cry from the memorable Velite concept of 2004 that gave this rebadged Chevy its name.
It’s not clear why Buick chose the Velite name for a Volt rebadge – it’s safe to say we were never going to see a production version of that rear-wheel-drive, mid-size convertible concept – but it makes perfect sense that Buick get a version of the Volt. The Chinese market is embracing electric vehicles and Buick is GM’s strongest brand in China. Hopefully when Buick finally gets around to releasing a dedicated electric vehicle in North America, they dust off the Electra nameplate—it just makes sense!
Cadillac is rapidly growing in China, which is great news for GM. While sedans may be dipping in popularity elsewhere, the often status-conscious Chinese market still prizes luxury sedans with ample rear legroom. GM locally assembles the XTS and CT6 but its Alpha-platform lineup is a tad different. The CTS isn’t sold in China at all, while the ATS is sold but only in a stretched, sedan variant known as the ATS-L.
The regular ATS sold elsewhere is a tad snug in the back and in China that just won’t do, what with luxury car owners often employing drivers to chauffeur them around. GM China took the ATS and added 3.3 inches to the wheelbase, comfortably increasing rear legroom without disturbing the ATS’ attractive proportions.
It’s not the first time GM China has taken a Cadillac with a cozy rear cabin and given it a good stretch—the last time they did this was with the SLS, a stretched version of the STS. While that model eventually received Chinese-exclusive facelifts and a 2.0 turbocharged four, the ATS-L stays true to the regular ATS but for the elongation. They addressed probably the most common complaint levelled at the ATS and they don’t have to worry about cannibalizing CTS sales as it isn’t offered there.
Finally, there are other Chinese market vehicles from the Big 3 that, well, don’t really impress. GM has its Baojun budget brand, a joint venture with SAIC Motor, that slots beneath Chevrolet in their hierarchy. Despite this, Chevrolet sells the Sail and Lova RV, rather bland and dated-looking compact models. Neither are flying off the lots, with more cohesive products like the Cavalier selling much better.
Yes, that’s right: the Chevrolet Cavalier. Slotting below the new Cruze and above the Sail, the Cavalier is a handsomely restyled version of the previous-generation Cruze. It’s proving to be a sales success for GM, being the 25th best-selling car in China in 2017.
It’s really quite a looker, especially inside—a Cavalier interior has never looked this good! Ah, but the Cavalier isn’t exclusive to China as it has recently been introduced to Mexico. Those of you in border states may have already seen one on the roads.
If you found it bizarre to hear the words “new Chevrolet Cavalier” for the first time in well over a decade, how about the words “new Ford Escort”? Yes, the Cavalier’s arch-rival is once again the Escort. Like the new Cavalier, the Escort is a rebodied version of a previous-generation compact, in this case the second-generation European Focus. Also like the Cavalier, its sole engine is a 1.5 four-cylinder.
Unlike many other 2015-vintage small Fords, the Escort has a relatively clean and uncluttered look inside thanks to a recent freshening. Overall, the Escort adeptly hides its rather old bones. Interestingly, neither the Ford Escort nor Chevrolet Cavalier names were ever used in China so there’s no real heritage to play on. I rather like the use of old nameplates, though, like the resurrected Datsun nameplate in South-East Asia, or the Indian Ford Freestyle.
The previous-generation Chevy Malibu lives on in China but has been treated to a significant refresh with a new interior and a frontend design reminiscent of a larger Cruze or Sonic. Design and engineering work was outsourced to Holden although the Malibu has recently been discontinued here and, ironically, we never even received the 2015 facelift.
Under the hood is the turbocharged 1.5 four-cylinder from the new Malibu. The new generation of Malibu, badged Malibu XL in China, has a much smaller global footprint than its predecessor due to Chevrolet’s withdrawal from Europe and the discontinuation of the Malibu line in markets such as Australia. Surprisingly, this Aussie-refreshed Malibu isn’t even sold in countries like Uzbekistan or India, markets that tend to hoard old GM products.
Looking at this fleet of Chinese vehicles, it’s safe to speculate that none of them would be runaway sales hits were they to be offered in North America, except for perhaps the budget-priced Escort and Cavalier. One Chinese model that would likely be a sales success is this, the Jeep Grand Commander.
The Grand Commander will compete with mid-sized, three-row crossovers like the Volkswagen Terramont (Atlas) and the Ford Edge (above). Yes, the Edge is available with a third row of seating in China, accommodated by a modest four-inch stretch in length. There’s no concern about cannibalizing Explorer sales as the Explorer is imported to China and therefore carries a steep price tag—base price to base price, the Explorer costs almost twice as much.
But back to the Jeep. The Grand Commander is visually almost identical to the Yuntu concept (above) and will slot between the Cherokee and the Grand Cherokee in Jeep’s Chinese lineup, offering something neither of them has: a third row of seats. Jeep has been rather slow to introduce a three-row crossover – its last three-row vehicle was the flawed Commander, discontinued in 2010.
When it launches this year, it will be offered with a 2.0 turbocharged four-cylinder in two states of tune. This is the same 2.0 that is being introduced in this year’s Cherokee and Wrangler.
Personally, I think this is a very attractive-looking crossover and it would sell like hot cakes in North America. Frustratingly, there’s been no indication given by FCA that this will be anything but a Chinese-exclusive model.
These American-badged Chinese models are merely the tip of the iceberg. In the next instalment, we’ll look at the vehicles produced by Asian and European automakers exclusively for the Chinese market. In the meantime, tell us: which of these, if any, would you like to see sold in North America?
Cavalier and Escort – almost sounds like the 1970s again.
Just wait ’till you see the 2019 Vega!
There were no 1970’s model year Escorts or Cavaliers, in the US. 1981 and 82 starts.
However “Escort” appeared in 1968 and “Cavalier” in 1975 in the UK which I guess might be where Bernard is from.
Yes, indeed, but nice to see the Cavalier and Escort names live on even if we lost them in 1995 and 2002 respectively (the Escort was just a van by then).
I would like to see the ATS-L in North America. One of the main criticisms of the ATS is the lack of rear seat room, I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the backseats being horribly cramped, and this seems like an easy fix. That said, I understand why it isn’t. It would hurt the sales of the CTS and it would seem redundant in the North American lineup.
That Jeep Grand Commander is not half bad. I could see it working here in terms of sales. However, with FCA’s plan to revive the Grand Wagoneer, I doubt they would want another three row Jeep in the showrooms with similar styling that might cannibalize the more expensive model. Depending on how the new Grand Wagoneer looks, bringing it and the Grand Commander here would be a similar mistake Lincoln made with making the MKZ and the Continental identical in styling.
That’s my two cents. Nothing else here has much of a chance in my opinion.
How about an ATS-LV? The stretched ATS, with the goodies from the Camaro ZL1.
Not a bad thought.
Tangent here – am I the only one who sees ‘CTS’ and immediately thinks ‘That’s the Catera’? So I can figure out one car’s place in the lineup!
I’d like to see the Cavalier over here, I’d definitely take a test drive. The Escort has a nice looking interior as well.
Weird that the previous generation of Malibu, known for lacking rear legroom, is still sold in the one market that demands extra-generous rear legroom. Of all the cars on this list to need a LWB version, I’d think the Malibu in China would be it.
And I concur about the Grand Commander, that would sell really well here.
I would think the 08-12 generation would have been perfect to warm over for China. Slender, long, and tons of rear space in that LWB Epsilon.
Maybe the architecture couldn’t support necessary modern engines, safety regs, and/or styling updates.
The 8th gen of Malibu lost .8″ of rear leg room compared to it’s predecessor… While gaining width, in shoulder and hip room. I guess cramped is in the eye of the beholder.
What this implies is that the 8th gen Malibu is/was a world car, sold and manufactured world wide. Besides, I doubt they’re missing many sales, GM sells the 9th gen Malibu as the Malibu XL over there.
It lost almost 5 inches inches in its wheelbase compared to the previous generation Malibu, with no reduction in overall length, just all useless overhangs. Any reduction in interior dimensions while keeping basically the same external dimensions is just… dumb. It’s not what the market here wanted, and it’s certainly not what LWB preferring China wants.
I wonder if some of these Chinese models are not designed with western crash tests or other structural safety engineering in mind. That might explain why some models will not be offered here. It would certainly be less expensive to design to a state of the art from the mid 90s, even with modern styling and mechanicals.
No need to wonder…!
To be honest, I feel like I sat down for what was going to be a “normal”/run-of-the-mill lunch….but instead it turned into a COLOSSAL Thanksgiving sized meal with several varieties of meat, vegetables, desserts, well, you get the idea. An enormous amount of information and pictures to absorb.
Excellent write-up. 1 or 2 of these Chinese market only models I have seen before, but I guess I assumed that the “Big 3” added a few home grown models to a line up of vehicles already sold elsewhere.
To be honest, several of the cars look and sound quite interesting, if I was asked to pick 1 or even a couple for export to the U. S. I am not sure if I could. In some cases I don’t see a car I prefer more than the North American counterpart, in many others it is too close to call. I have always considered that the current Taurus looks a bit…oddish(?), especially from the rear, so I can’t help wondering why it hasn’t been styled to look more like that large Chinese Ford.
I always thought Buick missed out by not selling the Verano as a hatchback in the US; the bulked-up nose and tacked-on trunk ruined the previous Astra’s good looks and left it with no styling cohesion at all. It seems GM learned the wrong lesson from the Saturn Astra, thinking “Americans still won’t buy hatchbacks, at least not from us” not “wow we really royally screwed the timing up on that one”.
It is actually the Opel Casada, sold as a Buick… who had little, if anything, to do with the styling. Built in Poland by Opel and shipped to the USA. All of the new Regals are coming from Germany, the GS, Sportback & TourX – rebadged Opel Insignias.
Buick’s models will surely change a lot with Opel sold off from GM to and out of the picture. Wonder how that will shake out.
The new GL8 minivan looks like the Toyota Estima, and I remember hearing about the new Escort about four years ago on an Indian website. Probably the big Jeep would do well in the US market, but how would the US warm up to a Chinese built Jeep? The big Ford sedans look nice, but my question with Chinese vehicles is will they hold up well over time? However, the same can be argued about any vehicle regardless of where it is built.
Have any Chinese built cars entered the U.S. market yet? Like J.P. above, I wonder if Chinese safety and/or pollution standards are different enough to make it impractical, or whether it’s just not worth the bother of certifying the cars even if they do meet the standard in practical terms.
I am a sedan guy, not a pick-up or SUV guy and I would like to see some of these handsome cars show up here. Although…does anyone have any info on how GM/Ford’s Chinese market reliability? Perhaps the Chinese market is not as sensitive to that, or don’t have enough brand history to make generalizations yet.
Yes, the Envision from Buick is Chinese built, as are several Volvo models. It seems that media coverage of that was muted, so the public does not know and thus does not care. Quality is on par with any other, so no issues in that regard. You will see that the small car production moving to China will not really affect quality, nor the price for that matter. Any savings in manufacture are eaten by shipping and importing.
That last point is interesting; in the past decade a lot of simple but bulky items’ production has moved back from China because of the cost of shipping.
China’s vehicle standards, called the “GB” regulations, are basically the UN Regulations (what used to be called the “European” or “ECE” regulations) used by most of the rest of the world, but several revisions behind the current versions.
Thanks for this education. The Chinese market is so fragmented, it reminds me of the European market in the 60s and 70s, and the US market in the 1920s. Obviously, that’s going to change, and the government is pushing for consolidation. I try to keep up on the broad strokes, but the details are overwhelming. And this post on just the gm offerings make that quite clear. I had no idea about the Cavalier and Escort, among others.
I really like the look of the Chinese Taurus because it splits the difference between the Fusion and the D3 Taurus without muddling either design. And I don’t think it will ever be imported here, although if Ford wanted a bigger sedan to replace the Fusion in the US, the Chinese Taurus could work. It’s about 196 inches in length with a 116 in. wheelbase, which makes it an inch and a half shorter than a fourth generation Taurus while sporting 8 inches more between the wheels. And it’s less than an inch wider than a fourth gen, so if Ford really wanted to replace the Fusion with a larger sedan, they’d basically be taking a page out of the book they wrote twenty years ago by making a midsize that’s bigger than the competition in virtually every way. The switch to crossovers pretty much guarantees this won’t happen.
If FMC was still operating the same as they were about thirteen years ago, I think Lincoln would have just rebadged this Taurus as a Continental and called it a day. You can see some similarities between the Chinese Taurus and the Continental, but Lincoln clearly went their own way when designing their sedan.
Great article, love reading about what American manufacturers are doing in non-US markets.
Those Buicks (with the exception of the GL8) are great looking cars imo. I’d give serious consideration to a Excelle GX wagon, Verano hatch or GL6 were they sold here.
When those Opel based cars are replaced with PSA versions they will probably be fully Chinese made by the PSA/Donfeng joint venture, They should be dynamically a better car than the Opels.
If I were able to choose some of these Chinese market cars, the GL8 minivan would be high on the list. Others would be the Buick Verano GS, Excelle wagon and Velite 5. I find the Velite 5 to be more attractive than the original Gen 2 Volt that it’s based upon.
And of course, I’d have to go for the re-booted Cavalier!
“… the Chinese Taurus isn’t selling in the volumes Ford would like…”
Some on other car web sites claim that if Ford brought over the Chinese Taurus it would be a “huge hit”. But if it cant sell in a market where large cars are still desired, then why bother bringing it to truck loving US?
While I don’t the think it would be a strong seller I also I don’t think soldiering on with the 8 year old NA design that is well out of tune with the brand’s current design language and letting it wither away, whilst inexplicably releasing an updated version in a different market, makes much sense at all given the prophetic lines we’ve been preached over the global car market in the last decade. What the hell happened to “one ford”? Are we going back to regional products?
Yep, I recall years ago the Escort being touted as Ford’s “world car” that was to be sold basically as is all over. Made sense to me that it selling the greatest numbers of a model as possible would best amortize costs. Hard to believe that so many unique models for just the Chinese market is cost effective, but apparently it is.
And, since the current NA Taurus is a bit of a dud, it would seem a no brainer to sell this attractive Chinese version here. How much could it cost to do so? The only reason is that Ford believes the US market for full-size sedans is dead and plans to abandon it after the Taurus is dropped.
Personally, I think this is a very attractive-looking crossover and it would sell like hot cakes in North America. Frustratingly, there’s been no indication given by FCA that this will be anything but a Chinese-exclusive model.
I have been proposing the Grand Commander as the replacement for the Dodge Journey since last summer. The GC shares the Cherokee’s platform and, now that Cherokee production has moved to Belvidere, there is capacity available to build it under the same roof as the Cherokee.
Sergio seems to have lost my phone number however.
The country has been in economic bubble for 30 years, China is now the largest auto market in the world. Strangely it seems US and European car makers are dominant in market place, even the market is fragment and regional. Japanese auto companies has been in China since mid 60s, by 80s thier vehicles were the only foriegn bands commonly seen in China, products like Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu and Mitsubishi were sought after. But Japanese unwilling to build products jointly with Chinese companies seplt the problem. VW and GM took the foot ball and ran for the touchdown line — AMC is another story. To make the matter worse, Japanese cars are viewed by Chinese as unsafe,without merit, Several high profile accidents with Japanese cars do not help. For instance, a 7th generation of Accord, US spec car, was invovled serious fatality accident with the passenger compartment cut into half when it was part of wedding ceremony fleet. But the good time for foriegn car makers ends soon, the domestic bands catch up, more they are betting on electric vehicles.
Seems to be several reasons shown here for me to further regret GM’s sale of Opel. Over the years, I’ve driven more GM cars than anything else. The Opel derived ones are usually my favorites. Will GM lose my business to VW or an Asian make?
As early as in summer 2016, I saw Chinese Taurus driven around Saginaw with manufacturer plate, I wonder what conclusions they had so far with it in the US.