Buick Teases Next Enclave

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

The tri-shield brand continues to push forth into that good night, bragging about sales increases in this country whilst showing off a shadowy image of what is said to be the next three-row Enclave.

Little is known about the upcoming 2025 Enclave, other than it will retain its perch atop the Buick lineup in an effort to tempt buyers shopping for a snazzy three-row crossover. There’s no indication this thing will be an EV, particularly since spy shots which surfaced last year showed a rig with dual tailpipe cannons jutting out from its rear valence. We do expect a decent leap in cabin digital real estate, likely to emulate the huge curved screens found in some recent efforts from Cadillac.


We’ve all seen the memes comparing the little Envista to a Urus, one probably initiated by the same blind mice which suggested the Ferrari Purosangue looked like a Mazda. Both share only a brief resemblance to the other, such as wheels and the ability to move under their own power. Still, the Buick stylists have hit on something with their new language and it’ll be interesting to see how it translates to a large three-row crossover like the Enclave.


Buick also took the chance to boast it is this country’s “fastest-growing mainstream brand”, which is like a child asserting they should win a Most Improved award for dragging their marks up from a failing 25 to a passable 76. Sure, the leap is large – but context is required, especially coming off several years in which all brands suffered at the hands of pandemic, microchip, and interest rate problems plus whatever else was the crisis du jour. 


Looking at raw numbers, the Enclave sold 39,411 units in 2023, a sum indeed up 29.1 percent from the previous year and about a quarter of Buick’s volume. Other comparable vehicles include the Toyota Highlander (169,543 sales in 2023) and Honda Pilot (110,298 sales). 


Should any PR types wish to carp that we ought to be comparing the Enclave with roughly equal three-row upmarket variants, the Lexus TX sold 8,201 units in the couple of months it has been on sale whilst the Acura MDX shifted 57,599 units through the whole of 2023.


In case you’re keeping score at home, the Enclave is one of numerous ‘En’ crossover-type vehicles prowling Buick showrooms – sharing space with the Envision, Envista, and Encore GX. The latter is sounds confoundingly like a trim level but is not. Hey, at least they’re actual names and not the alphanumeric soup foisted on the Cadillac brand by Dunderhead de Nysschen during his reign of terror. Fortunately, that house is brooming the asinine CTXT12345 numerology for monikers that sound like something – even if they all end in ‘iq’.


Additional details on the Buick Enclave, including available features and pricing, will be announced later this year.


[Image: Buick]


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Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Teddyc73 Teddyc73 on Jan 23, 2024

    "actual names and not the alphanumeric soup foisted on the Cadillac brand by Dunderhead de Nysschen" I always found it interesting and amusing how people criticized Cadillac and Lincoln for alphanumeric names but it was perfectly OK for every other high end premium brand. Why is that?


    Hey Matt, can you just report on the subject at hand instead of injecting your clear hatred for the Buick brand?

  • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Jan 23, 2024

    I've owned three Buicks: a 1963 LeSabre with a Buick 401 cid V8, a 1980 Regal with the Buick 231 cid V6, and a 1978 Electra with a Oldsmobile 403 cid V8. The Regal got stolen, but the V8s lasted 24 years each.


    Buick needs to bring back 17 foot long, 6-1/2 foot wide sedans with naturally aspirated 400 cid V8 engines. Six-foot-five, 260-pound westerners need them in the west where the roads are straight, the distances are long, and the womenfolk won't put up with long drives in 4-door pickups or S-U-Vs.

  • 3SpeedAutomatic IIRC, both China and the EU use a standardized charger connection. About time the US & Canada to follow.Would take some of the anxiety out of an EU purchase and accelerate adoption. 🚗🚗🚗
  • Varezhka The biggest underlying issue of Mitsubishi Motors was that for most of its history the commercial vehicles division was where all the profit was being made, subsidizing the passenger vehicle division losses. Just like Isuzu.And because it was a runt of a giant conglomerate who mainly operated B2G and B2B, it never got the attention it needed to really succeed. So when Daimler came in early 2000s and took away the money making Mitsubishi-Fuso commercial division, it was screwed.Right now it's living off of its legacy user base in SE Asia, while its new parent Nissan is sucking away at its remaining engineering expertise in EV and kei cars. I'd love to see the upcoming US market Delica, so crossing fingers they will last that long.
  • ToolGuy A deep-dive of the TTAC Podcast Archives gleans some valuable insight here.
  • Tassos I heard the same clueless, bigoted BULLSHEET about the Chinese brands, 40 years ago about the Japanese Brands, and more recently about the Koreans.If the Japanese and the Koreans have succeeded in the US market, at the expense of losers such as Fiat, Alfa, Peugeot, and the Domestics,there is ZERO DOUBT in my mind, that if the Chinese want to succeed here, THEY WILL. No matter what one or two bigots do about it.PS try to distinguish between the hard working CHINESE PEOPLE and their GOVERNMENT once in your miserable lives.
  • 28-Cars-Later I guess Santa showed up with bales of cash for Mitsu this past Christmas.
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