Changes are coming for the 2024 Buick Envision compact SUV, including a major tech milestone for the 124-year-old General Motors brand.
In a first look revealed Tuesday, the updated model year includes a new grille, front-end and hood, which sports the new Buick logo (it previously was placed on the grille).
The front redesign borrows from the Wildcat EV concept introduced last year. While not an EV (the 2023 Envision has a 228-horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine), the same swoopy looks from the battery-powered concept sedan are noticeable on the face of the car, and it uses Buick’s new and simplified logo. The looks also share some visual DNA with another upcoming model, the 2024 Buick Envista, and various Buicks designed primarily for the Chinese market.
Buick sells many more models there than it does here, including minivans and sedans, and the original Envision made headlines for being the first Chinese-made Buick to come to the U.S. in 2016. The sleeker-looking second-generation Envision arrived in late 2020 as a 2021 model, and 2024 will mark the first major visual technical update to the SUV. The updated look is modest, however, compared to one major addition to the options list.
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Inside, the Envision will have Super Cruise available (for an undisclosed price) for hands-free driving on 400,000 miles of highways and main roads in the U.S. and Canada. The driver assistance system is already in several Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC models, but this marks the first Buick with the tool. It uses cameras and sensors to track driver head and eye position while the system is in use, and a large array of sensors to keep track of what’s around the vehicle.
Last summer, General Motors doubled the coverage zone of Super Cruise and included non-divided highways, like Route 66, for the first time. The system is similar to Tesla’s Autopilot, but like Mercedes-Benz’s Drive Pilot, it’s meant to be a proper part-time hands free system for attentive drivers.
If past is prologue, Super Cruise will be a pricey option and possibly one only offered on the top-trim Avenir. On Cadillac’s XT6 and CT5 as well as various pickups and SUVs from Chevrolet and GMC, only the top-level trims can add the system. Buick won’t release more details, or exact pricing, until later this year.
The announcement comes on the heels of significant sales momentum for both Buick and the Envision, specifically. After a very down year in 2022 with just over 100,000 Buick units sold in the U.S. (a 42.6% drop from 2021, according to data from Motor Intelligence), the company and the model have seen sales surge so far in 2023. In Q1, sales hit 38,138 units, and the automaker says the Envision is on track for its best sales year ever in 2023.
Expect to hear more about the Envision refresh, including pricing, availability and trims later this summer.