2004 Buick Park Avenue Ultra on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM China President says automaker could export vehicles from China to US

At a press conference on Saturday at the Shanghai Motor Show, General Motors announced plans to further expand its presence in the Chinese market. Among those commitments are plans to build four new plants by the end of 2015, giving the automaker the capacity to produce around five million vehicles a year in the country.
In order to make the most of that expansion, GM is adding 400 dealerships in China this year alone (for a total of 4,200 sales points), and it's eyeing 5,100 dealers by 2015. Yet not all of that production will stay in China - GM is planning to increase exports as well. Officials estimate the company will export somewhere between 100,000 and 130,000 Chinese-built vehicles this year - a record. And it's gunning for more.
Autoblog asked GM China president Bob Socia (above) if that means the company might eventually export new vehicles built in China to the United States, and he responded:

2015 Buick Verano gets styling tweak, loses 6-speed manual

Well, all good things must come to an end. For 2015, the Buick Verano's experiment with a manual transmission will cease, as the American manufacturer has announced it will discontinue the 6MT in the turbocharged version of its compact sedan. According to Buick, the take rate on the Verano Turbo 6MT was (unsurprisingly) low, leading to its discontinuation.
That's not the only bit of news for the Verano, though. After a few years on the market, Buick has seen fit to refresh the popular sedan. The visual changes aren't huge, really, with subtle tweaks to the headlights and taillights. We'd bargain that the average passer-by wouldn't notice a difference between the two.
The main aesthetic change is a new appearance package, available on the mid-range Convenience and Leather option groups. Unimaginatively called just that - Appearance Package - it offers up a new paint color, Desert Dusk Metallic, as well as a grille treatment and a rear spoiler. The new package is, however, limited to naturally aspirated models.

Next Buick Regal to inherit styling cues from Opel Monza concept

Ever look at a concept car from a foreign auto marque like Opel and wonder what relevance it will have to you as an American consumer? Well, we'll tell you: at least as far as the Opel Monza concept goes, it could mean a lot.
Speaking with Automotive News at the Paris Motor Show, Opel chief Karl-Thomas Neumann said, "You will see the Monza when you see the next Insignia." And the Insignia, we needn't point out, is essentially ported over to American showrooms as the Buick Regal.
The relationship between the Regal and Insignia only stands to grow closer as Opel design chief Mark Adams has also been charged with tightening the bonds between the two automakers positioned on opposite shores of the Atlantic. Adams also intends to imbue the next Insignia with more "premium brand values" in order to "add polish to the brand." Which in turn means that the Regal will be designed to look more upscale, too.