The Ultium-based Buick Electra E5 is on sale in China, but it will be awhile before we see a Buick EV here in the States.
Even if you’ve only been loosely following snippets of what’s happening in the car industry over the past several months, one particular trend is emerging. While automakers eagerly announced an aggressive transition toward electric vehicles in the coming years, and particularly by the end of the decade, the winds are shifting. EV demand is softer than manufacturers expect. Adoption is still growing, but the relative pace at which it’s growing has many reconsidering available options. Companies like Toyota banked on hybrids, and present market conditions have much of the industry following suit. Others, like General Motors, are still investing toward new electric models, but Automotive News reports its dialing back some of its near-term efforts.
While every other GM brand has an EV at this point, Buick is specifically still waiting for its first model to actually hit the scene. According to the AutoNews piece, CEO Mary Barra recently revealed the company would delay electric model production at its Orion Assembly plant in Michigan until the middle of 2026. Originally, it was supposed to build electric pickup trucks and Buick’s first plug-in model next year, with the latter revealing its first EV to the public later this year.
At the moment, Buick does sell three electric cars for the Chinese market: the Velite 6 wagon, as well as the Electra E5 crossover and the smaller Electra E4. These vehicles share their platform with models we can already buy over here, including the Chevrolet Equinox EV and Blazer EV, as well as the Cadillac Lyriq and the forthcoming Optiq.
Barra, in GM’s quarterly earnings call, mentioned to analysts that the U.S. electric car market is “growing steadily, but more slowly than it did over the last few years.” Like several others including Ford, which announced it would expand its hybrid offerings later this year; and Stellantis, which has concentrated on a range of plug-in hybrids over making a headlong rush toward EVs (in America, its only fully electric model at time of writing is the Fiat 500e).
The U.S. government’s recent decision to place a 100% tariff on Chinese-made EVs may have also, to some extent, influenced Buick’s decision to delay its first EV. Rather than introducing the Electra E5 over here, GM appears to be sorting out an alternative arrangement to launch another model by 2026. Right now, we don’t know exactly when Buick’s electric offering will emerge, but at this point it’s looking like we’ll have a clearer answer sometime next year.
