By Paul Lienert
(Reuters) – General Motors Co’s Buick brand, once one of America’s pioneer auto companies, said Wednesday that its future North American lineup will be “all-electric” by 2030.
That target will make Buick one of GM’s lead brands, along with Cadillac, in pursuing the corporate goal of phasing out internal combustion engines by 2035.
Buick said it plans to introduce its first EV in 2024, but did not provide specifics. Supplier sources said the brand is planning to build at least two electric crossover vehicles in that timeframe, with production sourced in both China and North America.
Today, China is Buick’s largest market, representing about five times its U.S. sales. Nearly all of those vehicles in both markets still feature gasoline-fueled engines.
GM has said it plans to sell 1 million EVs in China and in the U.S. in 2025. Last year, it sold about 20,000 EVs in the United States.
Buick traces its roots back nearly 120 years — five years before GM’s 1908 founding — to an era when electric cars briefly outsold gasoline models in the U.S. All Buicks sold back then were gasoline-powered.
The brand is reaching into its distant past for inspiration as it introduces a new logo and brand identity.
Its future electric vehicles will carry the Electra name, which dates back more than 60 years. The Electra badge was used until 1990 on Buick’s full-size flagship sedans, the largest of which stretched more than 19 feet (5.9 metres) long and was powered by a 7.5-liter V8 gasoline engine.
To illustrate some of the brand’s future design language, the Buick studio created an electric coupe concept that revives the Wildcat name. Buick first used that on a series of concept vehicles in the early 1950s, and deployed the Wildcat badge on several full-size production models from 1963 to 1970.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
