General Motors unveiled the Buick Electra L7 this week, a new mid-sized electric sedan designed exclusively for China. On the surface, it appears to be just another product launch, but the question remains: can an American automaker still have a future in the world's most contested auto market?
About the Buick Electra L7
GM is touting the Electra L7 as a sleek four-door sedan built in partnership with its longtime Chinese joint venture partner, SAIC, as a C-Segment premium sedan aimed directly at the growing mainstream premium buyer who wants something more stylish than a BYD Qin or a Nio ET5.
At 199 inches long, 77 inches wide, and 59 inches high, the Buick Electra L7 is 1.5 inches longer, 3.5 inches wider, and 1.5 inches taller than a 2019 Buick LaCrosse, the last new Buick sedan sold in the United States, and rides on a 118-inch wheelbase. It's built using GM's "Xiao Yao" architecture and employs Buick's "Zhen Long" extended-range electric vehicle system, developed at GM's Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center in Shanghai.
It uses SAIC's turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine in the front, which produces 154 horsepower, and a 252 kW rear motor that produces 338 horsepower and 188 miles of range in electric-only mode. Along with the 40.2-kWh Ultium lithium-iron phosphate battery pack, the Electra L7 gets a total range of 870 miles. Getting from 0 to 62 mph takes 5.9 seconds, according to Buick, while a front double-wishbone and rear five-link active suspension supplies the requisite balance of ride comfort and dynamic handling.
There's a healthy dose of tech, too, including a 50-inch augmented reality head-up display and an assisted driving system for both urban streets and highways. It can self-park using a system that can be activated while the Electra L7 is moving, and the driver-assistance systems come courtesy of Chinese tech company Momenta. The cabin features two tablet-type displays, a 10.25-inch LCD instrument cluster, and a 15.6-inch center-mounted infotainment screen, and is lined in Nappa leather. A 27-speaker sound system provides audio with headrest speakers and active noise cancellation. All of this tech runs on Qualcomm's 8775 chip.