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The China-specific Buick Envista looks identical to the Electra-X Concept, and it also packs an upscale cabin and offers a long list of features.

Compact SUVs have been the best-selling segment in most countries for the past decade because they offer the right mixture of everything you can ask for in a car. They offer adequate power to glide through daily life easily and are easier to handle and park inside the city, unlike other segments. Most compact SUVs look good and feature spacious cabins, and boast decent cargo space, making them highly practical. They are also safer and more dependable, and thus, they have climbed to the top of the automotive industry.

Buick, often regarded as a sub-luxury brand of GM, offers only three products in the United States, but their narrative is different in China as they sell every type of vehicle in China, right from compact cars to MPVs, attracting 80% of their annual profits.

Last week, Buick introduced the Envista in China. The Envista is China-specific crossover SUV based on GM's new compact-SUV platform. The arriving Envista incorporates a very similar design as the Electra-X concept and is a "high-spirited urban compact SUV tailored for the progressive young generation and modern families in China". With the compact SUV segment aggressively growing, the Envista is a crucial standpoint and a luck factor for Buick. According to Cesar Toledo, GD of Buick Sales and Marketing, “The launch of the Envista is part of our strategy to further elevate Buick’s SUV lineup and meet our customers’ diverse needs in China,”.

Buick will sell the Envista with a starting price of RMB 150,000, which is around $21,769 after conversion. Below, we talk about everything we know about the new Envista.

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The Chinese market is Buick’s topmost priority as 80% of Buick’s sales come to China alone. Since the crossover market is growing at a fast pace, Buick has decided to stick to what customers want in China, where it gains huge profits. That said, they have introduced the new Envista, and we are super impressed with the new shell styling.

The overall shape of the Envista is very attractive. While Buick calls it a compact SUV, it has the coupe-SUV design cues that will attract a lot of buyers. The fascia styling is meaner with sharp triangular headlights in front. The grille is lower and equipped with a bumper for better airflow. We can also see a pair of chiseled DRLs and fog lights below. The front projects a more aggressive character with the forward-leaning nose and Buick’s new tri-shield logo.

When viewed from the rear, the Envista is more impressive. The coupe-SUV-like rear proportions are further contoured with an aggressive bodyline to deliver a muscular character. In addition to these, Buick will supposedly offer the Envista in a GS trim that adds sportier design elements such as a black diamond braided sports grill, a set of 18-inch blackened rotary bade wheels with red brake calipers, blackened exterior mirrors, and front and rear black bumpers.

Coming down to proportions, the Envista is 182-inches long, 71.49-inches wide, and 61.6-inches tall, with a wheelbase of 106.2-inches. These proportions make it very similar to the Buick Envision. Overall, the Buick Envista is very similar to the Electra and is Buick's chicest car to date.

The Envista is undoubtedly Buick’s most premium-looking car to date, and once you look at what the Envista has to offer inside, you’ll really be impressed with the efforts Buick has put into this crossover.

The Envista features a premium cabin with excellent styling, fine materials, and room on offer. The Envista is a large crossover, and we expect it to offer at least 100 ft3 of interior room considering it is very similar in size to the Envision. The dashboard design is premium, and it is highly functional. The upper dashboard uses soft-touch surfaces with accented stitching to deliver a premium look and appeal. Furthermore, the lower parts are outfitted with piano black or open-pore wood interior accents to elevate the interior’s status quo. Below, the interior offers intuitive controls and cleverly organized storage spaces.

As we can see, the cabin will seat five passengers, and we expect the interior to offer a sufficient room in both rows. The front side has a wide slabbed display unit with a pair of 10.25-inch displays, one on the left for a fully digital instrument cluster and one in the middle for multimedia.

The front side may come equipped with bucket seats with power adjustability, heating and cooling, and lumbar settings. The rear will feature foldable bench seats. Buick says the seats will come covered with perforated leather as well.

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Buick says they have developed the Envista on GM’s new-generation compact SUV platform. Although we don’t know the exact name of the platform, we can tell they have constructed the Envision on a unibody chassis, which Buick calls a "BFI one-piece high-strength body structure".

The Envision will get a brand new 1.5-liter turbocharged inline-4 engine mated with a CVT gearbox and a direct-fuel-injection system. This engine will offer 181 horsepower and can carry the car from 0 to 60 mph in 7.9 seconds. In addition, the Envista will also offer 36 MPG, making it a great commuter and a daily driver for families.

Buick has also made sure that occupants inside not only get sufficient comfort but also get a good infotainment system for seamless entertainment. The interior offers a wide slabbed display unit that houses a pair of 10.25-inch screens. The middle touchscreen serves for entertainment and also houses various controls. The infotainment system also features an optimized interface and offers an all-new Baidu intelligent voice command system for easier functionality. Apart from these, the infotainment system comes equipped with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, wireless charging, voice-activated navigation, and numerous other features. Besides, the interior boasts a Tune Melody premium 3D surround audio system for a rich audio hearing experience.

Buick has prepared Envista well for the Chinese domestic car market. It looks good inside and out and will offer a decent amount of features. Besides, Envista features a powerful and efficient engine that will offer excellent mileage and power daily. While Envista is a crucial step for Buick, only time will tell how well it fares in reality.

Source: Buick China, GM Corporate Newsroom China.

Sourav hails from Siliguri, a city very close to the Himalayas in the northern part of West Bengal, India. Anything that has to do with wheels fascinates him. He has a soft spot for Lexus and BMW. He rides a Royal Enfield Thunderbird and is often seen with his group of friends in nearby hill stations. He also loves doing photography and making music. After working with CARHP and CAR INDIGO for more than 15 months, he joined HotCars to continue in automotive writing. He's currently crushing upon the Triumph Tiger 1200.