U.S. to GM: Sorry, Pay Your Buick Envision Tax

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Pity the poor Buick Envision. As one of the few Chinese-built vehicles sold in America, it earned an unpatriotic stigma upon its arrival. There’s no word on how many UAW workers own one. Meanwhile, the compact crossover launched partway through the 2016 model year with only high-end trims in tow, saddling it with a steep starting price. The entry price has since declined to saner levels.

Just when Buick thought it had righted the Envision ship, the U.S. hiked tariffs on a slew of Chinese goods to 25 percent last July, suddenly making the Envision a less profitable endeavor for the doctor’s car brand. As we learned today, General Motors’ appeal for mercy apparently fell on deaf ears.

As reported by CNBC, the Trump administration denied an exemption request filed by GM immediately following the tariff hike. The unhappy news came via a letter sent late last month from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office

In it, GM was told the Envision is “a product strategically important or related to ‘Made in China 2025’ or other Chinese industrial programs.”

With its request denied, GM will be forced to continue eating the tariff, as the automaker chose not to raise the Envision’s price to offset the levy. In fact, Envision prices fell for 2019. GM did, however, decide to stop importing the plug-in hybrid variant of Cadillac’s CT6. Announced last November, the Chinese-built CT6 Plug-in disappeared from the U.S. lineup for 2019, though it’s still available to buyers in its home country. Unlike the CT6 Plug-in, the Envision has both volume and segment importance going for it.

Facelifted for the 2019 model year and carrying a nine-speed automatic on upper, turbocharged trims, the Envision range starts under $35,000 (after destination) for a base, front-drive model. Incentives are available, with Buick currently listing the cheapest model at $31,995 before destination.

In the first quarter of 2019, Envision sales fell 21.4 percent in the United States.

[Image: General Motors]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Golden2husky Golden2husky on Jun 06, 2019

    These tarrifs are a disaster for consumers. Past week I bought two 10' lengths of 2 inch rigid steel conduit....$120!!!! Trump go F yourself. Great sign on protest in Britan "All in All the Prick Has no Wall" Roger Waters must be pleased!!!

    • See 2 previous
    • Art Vandelay Art Vandelay on Jun 06, 2019

      What was the pre tariff price? This is beyond meaningless without that.

  • Akear Akear on Jun 07, 2019

    Mary Barra lost Trump's good will when she closed the Cruze plant.

  • Lorenzo Are they calling it a K4? That's a mountain in the Himalayas! Stick with names!
  • MaintenanceCosts It's going to have to go downmarket a bit not to step on the Land Cruiser's toes.
  • Lorenzo Since EVs don't come in for oil changes, their owners don't have their tires rotated regularly, something the dealers would have done. That's the biggest reason they need to buy a new set of tires sooner, not that EVs wear out tires appreciably faster.
  • THX1136 Always liked the Mustang though I've never owned one. I remember my 13 yo self grabbing some Ford literature that Oct which included the brochure for the Mustang. Using my youthful imagination I traced the 'centerfold' photo of the car AND extending the roof line back to turn it into a small wagon version. At the time I thought it would be a cool variant to offer. What was I thinking?!
  • GregLocock That's a bodge, not a solution. Your diff now has bits of broken off metal floating around in it.
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