When better Buicks are built, will the Chinese build them? That’s what the business press, led by The Wall Street Journal, is claiming, with an unconfirmed report that Buick will fill the yawning gap in its lineup—in between the teensy Encore crossover and the three-row Enclave—with the mid-size Envision crossover, imported from China.

While Chinese-brand cars so far have proved to be paper tigers here, the idea of established automakers importing vehicles from their Chinese factories is a much more likely scenario. Volvo, which is owned by China’s Geely, is the first, with the long-wheelbase version of its S60 sedan (a variant that was created for the Chinese market). The word that Buick will source a model wholly from China marks another milestone.

Aside from its country of manufacture, the Envision appears to be an otherwise innocuous product. On sale in its home country since 2014, the front-wheel-drive/all-wheel-drive Envision is powered by a 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder and a six-speed automatic or, somewhat more interestingly, a 1.5-liter turbo with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.

Buick has been dancing around two of the hottest segments of the market: compact and mid-size crossover. It needs a vehicle like the Envision in its lineup. Will Americans be as accepting of a Chinese-made car as they are of other Chinese-made products? We may be about to find out.

(source: caranddriver.com)