New Envista small crossover becomes entry to Buick

The 2024 Buick Envista will fill a lot of roles when it goes on sale this summer.

The small crossover will be the General Motors brand's final new gasoline-powered nameplate before it shifts to an all-electric lineup by 2030. The Envista will replace the Encore subcompact crossover, which debuted in 2012, as Buick's entry-level model.

It will be the first Buick to draw total design inspiration from the brand's Wildcat electric vehicle concept revealed last year. And all of the Envista's trims, including the top-end Avenir, will start in the United States at less than US$30,000 including shipping — a strategy to attract younger buyers at a time when affordability concerns have pushed some consumers out of the market.

Canadian pricing hasn’t been announced. But Canadian customers will be able to preview a new Envista on Buick.ca, with ability to build and order online later this summer.

"The all-new Envista is going to shake up that segment once again," Duncan Aldred, vice president of global Buick and GMC, said in a statement. "When you consider all the Envista has to offer, from its stunning design to abundant technology and safety features, it's going to be hard to find a better package in that area of the market."

For Buick, the Envista represents another "white space opportunity" in the small end of the crossover segment that builds on what it learned a decade ago with the Encore, Buick marketing manager Jazzy Teen told sibling publication Automotive News.

The Envista's design, which marries sedan-like proportions with SUV-style utility, helps to further separate the entry-level vehicle from the newly updated Encore GX, Teen said. The Envista, for instance, will only be sold with front-wheel drive, while the Encore GX becomes Buick's entry-level all-wheel-drive vehicle.

The Encore, which ended production late last year, brought in younger and more diverse buyers to the Buick brand, she said. Buick wants to continue that with the Envista, including with former sedan owners who like the crossover's car-like proportions but don't want an SUV.

The Envista will come with a 1.2-litre turbocharged engine and a six-speed automatic transmission, offering 136 hp and 162 pound-feet of torque, Buick said. Engineers said the engine is lighter and incorporates fewer parts than previous versions, which contributes to a lighter vehicle weight and better efficiency and handling.

Buick said the Envista's fuel economy is a GM-estimated 30 mpg combined, with 32 mpg on the highway and 28 mpg in the city. The brand didn’t offer Canadian litres-per-100-kilometres estimates.

It's the first vehicle to be designed from the ground up with elements of Buick's Wildcat EV concept, highlighting the trapezoidal grille and checkmark-style headlights. The Envista also wears Buick's revamped tri-shield logo.

The vehicle has sportback styling and long windows that bring a feeling of spaciousness into the cabin, said Steve McCabe, advanced design manager for Buick.

McCabe called the Envista "the designer's dream to get a clean slate and really do something that's completely cohesive and new."

"What we love about this is it was our first opportunity since the Wildcat to completely redesign a car," McCabe said. "The Encore GX is a heavy midcycle [update], but it still has some of the older vocabulary, in terms of the sculpture throughout the doors rearward, where this was clean slate."

The Envista is 11 inches (about 28 centimetres) longer than the Encore GX, with a wheelbase that is four inches (10 cm) longer, and is nearly three inches (7.6 cm) lower than the GX, Buick said. It will be sold in three trims — the base Preferred, the Sport Touring (ST) that includes a sportier feel and gloss black finishes and the Avenir, which offers chrome accents and additional features.

On the inside, the Envista carries Buick's Virtual Cockpit System, with an eight-inch driver information screen next to an 11-inch infotainment screen behind one piece of glass — the same system that debuted in the refreshed Encore GX earlier this year.

Vehicle designers were able to offer more interior leg room than any of Buick's past small crossovers, the brand said, in part because of its longer wheelbase.

Buick's Driver Confidence safety features come standard on the Envista, including automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist and lane departure warning. Available driver-assistance features include lane-change alert with side blind-zone alert and adaptive cruise control, Buick said.

The vehicle has 20.7 cubic feet of storage space in the rear and 42 cubic feet when the rear seats are down. A power liftgate is standard on the Avenir and available on the other trims.

U.S. pricing starts at $23,495 (all figures in USD) for the Preferred, $25,195 for the ST and $29,695 for the Avenir. All prices include shipping.

The Envista will be built in South Korea, alongside the Encore GX. Production is slated to start in May.