Buick pulled the plug on the Regal in the US in 2020, citing that the majority of people would rather have crossovers. The Aussie equivalent followed suit when the Holden Commodore was axed. Its European cousins, the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia soldiered on, only to be both discontinued in 2022. Fast forward to July 2023, official images of an updated Regal have been published by China’s Auto Home magazine ahead of a presumably imminent local debut.
Featuring the updated tri-shield logo unveiled a little over a year ago, the 2024 Regal gets a striking second facelift with a massive trapezoidal front grille. The catfish-like grille is flanked by metallic trim pieces shaped like a boomerang to create a visual connection with the daytime running lights of the revised headlights. Since this is only a facelift, the side profile is virtually carried over from a car that has been around since early 2017. At the rear, the only change we’re seeing is the revised badge.
While Buick has waved goodbye to sedans in the United States, the Regal is sold alongside the fancier LaCrosse in China where the large sedan recently transitioned to the next-generation model. At the other end of the lineup, the Excelle is a cheap small sedan based on what was supposed to be the GM-developed Opel Corsa F before Stellantis decided to use the Peugeot 208’s CMP underpinnings.
Buick’s Chinese lineup is quite interesting and eclectic as aside from sedans and crossovers, there’s even a luxury minivan. It’s called the GL8 and received a posh Century variant a year ago to better compete with the Lexus LM. This updated midsize sedan is expected to go official in the coming months and will probably remain on sale for at least a couple of years.
Over in Europe, Opel has already announced plans to bring back the Insignia one day, but as a purely electric vehicle. It might not be a sedan/liftback anymore since rumor has it the folks from Russelsheim want to give it a swoopy SUV silhouette akin to the Citroën C5 X and Peugeot 408. It’s expected to ride on the Stellantis STLA Medium platform and go on sale around the middle of the decade.
