Buick plans to stop selling gasoline-powered vehicles in North America by the end of the decade after rolling out a full lineup of electric vehicles that will revive the Electra name from its heyday.
The brand will go all-EV in roughly the same time frame as Cadillac and push parent company General Motors Co. closer to its goal of having all light vehicles it sells be fully electric by 2035. Buick, which also updated its logo June 1 to signal the coming overhaul of its lineup, does not plan to launch any new internal-combustion vehicles after 2024, when its first EV is scheduled to arrive.
The character of Buick's current crossover portfolio, along with its focus on a quiet, safe ride, position the brand to succeed as the industry transitions to EVs, Duncan Aldred, global vice president of Buick-GMC, told Automotive News.
"I feel Buick is more naturally placed to really win as the adoption hastens, probably more than any other brand I can think of," Aldred said.
All of the upcoming EVs will be called Electras — a name Buick used for large sedans from 1959 to 1990 — plus an alphanumeric to differentiate the models.
Buick officials confirmed the plan after three sources told Automotive News that the brand would discontinue combustion vehicles by 2030. Dealers will sell EVs and combustion vehicles simultaneously until then.
"Sometimes people almost think it means this happens tomorrow, but clearly that's not the case. We've got a phenomenal range of vehicles in the marketplace today," Aldred said. "We're going to be playing in the emerging EV space, but also obviously in the existing combustion-engine space. We're very optimistic and aggressive about the volumes we will achieve through this period."