What you’re looking at is the new Buick Encore II and despite what you may be thinking, the vehicle pictured is expected to be quite a bit different from the new Encore bound for the U.S. Why? This Buick Encore is specifically for the Chinese market.
Set to be sold by GM alongside the recently-previewed Chevrolet Tracker, the new Buick Encore is a more up-market version of the latter. Comparing the two cars in the available pictures, we see that while they maintain the same proportions, the Buick gets different sheetmetal.
Buick or Opel inspired fascia?
China’s new Encore adopts a unique front with sleek headlights that seamlessly flow into a chrome element stretching across the front grille, the styling language of which is strongly reminiscent of Opel products. It also has simpler round arches rather than the squared-off housings of the Tracker. Viewed from the rear, you’ll see smaller taillights and a tailgate similar in shape to the Tracker’s.
The new Buick Encore is a sister model to China’s 2020 Chevrolet Tracker
Chinese customers of the new Encore will reportedly only be offered a 1.0-liter turbocharged engine producing 114 hp and sipping 5.5-liters of fuel per 100 km (42 US mpg).
The small crossover may premiere at next month’s Shanghai Auto Show in China.
What about America’s Encore?
Both the next Chevrolet Trax and the new Buick Encore bound for North America have been spied testing on multiple occasions in recent months and have different, more angular bodies than their Chinese counterparts.
Also Read: 2020 Chevrolet Trax Looks Blazer-esque Even In Full Camouflage
It also appears that the U.S. models may have a slightly shorter wheelbase that forms part of GM’s new VSS-S platform. The two North American market models will continue to be powered by small displacement four-cylinder turbo engines, but we could see GM adding an electrified variant as well.
