Here’s a Buick Regal GL 2.5, seen in the Chinese capital, Beijing, in 2024. The good old Regal was a bit dirty but otherwise in great shape. This Regal was a China-only model, fitted with gigantic headlights, which were fashionable at the time. It also has the original alloy wheels and a bumped Beijing license plate. Power came from a 2.5-liter V6, which was also unique for the Chinese market. There’s much more to tell!
The Buick Regal in China
The Buick Regal has a complicated history in China. It started with the Buick New Century, which launched in 1999. In late 2002, Buick gave the car an extensive facelift and renamed it the Buick Regal. The manufacturer was Shanghai-GM, now known as SAIC-GM. Production continued until 2008, when the next-generation Regal, based on the Opel Insignia, took over. Amazingly, the Insignia-based Regal is still on sale in China today, although it has received several major updates over the years.
The 2002 facelift included a new nose with extra-large headlights, new bumpers, new rear lights, new alloy wheels, a new mirror design, an updated interior, and the addition of new 2.0- and 2.5-liter engines. When I took these photos, a friendly old man approached me, asking, “Why do you take pictures of that? It is just an old car!” I explained that I liked older Chinese cars and wrote about them on websites. He smiled, nodded, and left, shaking his head. I get that reaction a lot. Car development in China goes so fast now that folks don’t even care about a 20-year-old sedan!
The interior of the facelifted Buick Regal
Another important difference concerns the gear lever. The Buick New Century had a column-mounted shifter, American-style, but Buick moved it to the center console for the Regal, following the standard layout in China at the time. The car in the photos has a very beige interior. The seats, trim, dashboard, and even the steering wheel are all beige. A lucky charm hangs from the rearview mirror, while the fancy purple seat covers are aftermarket accessories.
In 2005, the Buick Regal was one of the few relatively affordable luxury cars on the Chinese market. It was hugely popular at the time, with private buyers, companies, and government agencies all buying them. I have sat in quite a few over the years. The Regal offered a typical American ride: very comfortable, with soft suspension and a genuinely luxurious feel. One of its main competitors, the Volkswagen Passat, felt much harsher over the bumps. There’s a fire extinguisher on the floor and a plastic bottle with motor oil.
Specifications of the Chinese 2005-2008 Buick Regal
The 2002–2008 China-made Buick Regal was based on GM’s W-body platform, shared with the Buick New Century and the American Buick Regal. It used a transverse front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout. The 2005-2008 Buick Regal was available with 3 engines: a 2.0-liter four-pot, a 2.5-liter V6, and a 3.0-liter V6. The car we have here has the “GM LB8” 2.5-liter V6 under the hood. It was manufactured in China and developed specifically for the Chinese market, but its basic design came from General Motors in the United States.
“GL” was a trim level. The 2.5-liter V6 put out 152 hp and 209 Nm. The motor was mated to a 4-speed automatic gearbox. The top speed was 173 km/h, and the 0-100 acceleration was a leisurely 12.8 seconds. The official fuel consumption was 10.9 liters per 100 kilometers, slurping fuel from a 72-liter tank. When researching for this article, I also found out the trunk space. I normally don’t care so much about that metric, but here it is: 472 liters!
Price and legacy
In 2008, its final year of production, the Buick Regal GL 2.5 sold for 232,800 yuan, or approximately $33,500 at the 2008 exchange rate. That wasn’t exactly cheap at the time, but the Regal was a large, luxurious sedan, and Buick was a very strong brand in China back then.
Today, the Buick Regal is largely forgotten in China. But there is hope! The Buick New Century has already achieved cult status as the first locally produced American sedan in China. So I guess it’s only a matter of time before the Regal becomes cool as well.
