What is it?
The 2016 Buick Wei Lang, an all-new sedan for China, which is likely to become the 2017 Buick Verano in North America.
Signature feature:
The exterior styling. The Verano draws inspiration from the Buick Riviera concept (shown in 2013) and Buick Avenir concept (unveiled at this year’s Detroit Auto Show). The car incorporates the classic Buick waterfall grille, as well as HID xenon headlights and LED daytime running lights that resemble those on the Avenir. The Verano isn’t a large car, so the styling cues don’t carry the impact they would on something with a bigger footprint.
What else is new:
The Chinese market is singlehandedly keeping the Buick brand in the black. More than six million Buicks have been sold here since 1998 and it’s described as the “fastest-growing mainstream upper-medium passenger car brand” in China. This bodes well for GM as the biggest growth opportunity here now consists of non-premium vehicles. Understandably, the Verano has been engineered specifically with a chassis tuned for China’s (rough) road conditions.
Under the hood:
The Verano is powered by a new General Motors Ecotec engine, a turbocharged 1.5L 4-cylinder. The engine (170 hp; 184 lb-ft of torque) is linked to a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and incorporates auto start/stop to boost fuel efficiency.
When can we buy it, and for how much?
We can’t buy it (yet) and we don’t (yet) know how much it will cost.
Cool quotient:
3 stars (out of five)
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