After Years of Media and PR Hype Claiming Buick Will Be an EV Brand, It is Now GM’s Only Brand Without an Electrified Model

Buick has been GM’s import brand for many years now. Having survived the culling of the Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Saturn brands, Buick remains an upscale but still mainstream crossover and SUV brand looking for an identity to differentiate it from Cadillac, GMC, and Chevy.

Eight years ago, the Truth About Cars (TTAC) ran a story saying, “Buick Poised to Become GM's Greenest Brand - If the Public Wants It.” The author posited that Buick would soon have many new battery-electric models, and that it was unclear if the U.S. market had enough interest to justify GM importing them to America as U.S. models. Since that time, most of the Buick vehicles sold have been imported, but none of them are world market EVs.

Five years ago, CNET ran a story that included Buick’s EV plans with more specificity. The story said, “We've known the automaker's (GM’s) goal is to bring 20 EVs to market globally by 2023, but for the first time, we have some US-specific information. A total of 12 new electric cars are confirmed and coming soon across all of GM's divisions: Buick, GMC…” This story said about Buick, “Two new SUVs with electric powertrains are on the way for Buick. One is a more traditional vehicle with a crossover shape to ‘maximize interior space and cargo,’ while the other model will be ‘expressive."’ The story concluded, “GM's long said it believes in an electric future, but clearly, the automaker's putting its money where its mouth is.”

In early 2024, CNBC ran a story that said GM was reinventing Buick and that “GM is expected to expand Buick’s lineup with a new all-electric vehicle as soon as this year (2024) and is conducting several design studies to determine what’s next for the once-dominant American brand.”

Back in 2023, one of GM’s U.S. Buick dealers ran a full story on the coming Buick EV. Titled, "The Buick Electra’s Headed for the US,” the story said that “Buick’s first electric vehicle will be known as the Electra. Further, the 2025 Buick Electra SUV will debut in the US market by 2024.” This did not come to pass, as we now know.

Greencars.com ran a story updating Buick's EV plans in May, titled “Buick’s Electric Gamble Starts With the Electra E5.” The story hedges a bit on the timing of the new EV, but did say, “Buick was expected to launch the Electra E5 in 2025.” Now, more than halfway through 2025, we haven’t heard any news on this model directly from GM. There is no press release about the Electra E5 we can find on the brand’s media page. The story offers a reason why the new EV Buick may be delayed, saying, “Buick may be delaying the launch of its first EV due to the recent impact of the tariffs. The Buick Electra E5 is currently produced in China for the Chinese domestic market. With 100 percent tariffs on Chinese automobiles, it wouldn’t make the Electra E5 feasible for the North American market.” Notably, those tariffs were not set by President Trump, and they are not recent. The 100% tariff on Chinese EVs was instituted by President Biden nearly a year ago.

The automotive media does its best to forecast and predict what is to come, and automakers famously say to journos asking for details, “We cannot comment on future products.” However, GM did comment on future Buick electric vehicles officially and formally on its own investor page in 2023. The post said:

Buick is set to embark on a brand transformation that will fully electrify its lineup in North America, led by a new badge and brand identity. In support of General Motors’ vision of a zero-emissions, all-electric future, Buick will bring its first electric vehicle to market for North America in 2024.

Buick’s Product Mix in 2025
Buick in America, as of the start of the third quarter of 2025, offers four models. All are powered entirely by gasoline. The brand has been doing very well, and its half-year deliveries are up by a solid 29% over 2024. Buick also handily outsold Cadillac, 116,000 vehicles to 86,000 as of the end of June.

The odd thing is that Cadillac now offers four EV models, and is on pace to deliver over 20,000 EVs by year-end. Clearly, Cadillac is the brand undergoing transformation.

During the first half of 2025, Chevrolet offered seven EV models, including its two EV van models. Its Equinox EV is a big hit in the EV space and trails the Tesla Model Y as America’s third-best-selling electric model. We predict that the Equinox EV will have over 60,000 units delivered by year-end, and that Chevrolet will deliver over 100,000 in total in 2025.

GMC has two EV models, both named Hummer. Is Hummer a brand, a model series? We don’t really know how to define it, but the GMC dealers sell them and GM lists them in its delivery report under GMC. There is also an EV version of the Sierra, making GMC’s EV model list add up to three.

General Motors is having a great 2025 for electric vehicles. Test reviews are very positive. Deliveries are growing by leaps and bounds, and most in the media name GM the number two EV brand in North America. The only odd part is that there was so much hype about Buick being the greenest brand, with a new identity centered on EVs, and Buick has turned out to be the only GM brand that lacks any electrification of any kind. Not even a single mild hybrid.

What do you think about Buick’s future? Did the media get its forecasts all wrong, or were they led astray? Tell us in the comments section below. 

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John Goreham is a long-standing member of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ grammar and punctuation software when proofreading and he also uses image generation tools. 

Top of page image by John Goreham. Second image courtesy of GM's media page.