The Trump administration’s tariff’s on foreign made vehicles could not only raise their prices for consumers, but also force some automakers to kill off some of their slower selling models. Although General Motors is one of the “Big 3” not all of its vehicles it sells in the United States are produced here, like the Buick Envision. Instead of being built in the U.S. the Envision crossover is built in China, which might force GM to stop selling it here.
Instead of pulling the plug, General Motors has asked the Trump administration for a tariff exception so that it keep selling the Buick Envision in the U.S. “While the volume of Envisions sold in the U.S. is small, it is strategically important and essential to the Buick brand,” GM stated in its request. “A 25 percent tariff on the Envision may eliminate the vehicles from Buick’s U.S. offerings.”
The Buick Envision is one of GM’s slower selling models in the U.S. with only 42,000 units sold in the U.S, last year compared to 210,000 Envisions in China. The Envision’s U.S. sales aren’t high enough to justify moving production to the United States, but the Buick brand does need the Envision to fully compete against other brands, like Audi and Lexus.
“The profitability that we generate on that vehicle, selling it in the U.S. market, we obviously reinvest in the business here so we think it’s in everybody’s interest for that to continue,” stated GM President Dan Ammann.
Source: Automotive News
