General Motors’ Official SUV of NCAA ‘March Madness’ Is Made in China

The official SUV, produced by General Motors (GM), of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) annual “March Madness” tournament is made in China.

Last week, Buick — a division of GM — announced its 2021 Buick Envision is the official SUV of March Madness.

The Buick Envision is built in China and imported to the U.S. market to sell. GM Authority reported in May 2020:

The 2021 Buick Envision debuted just yesterday, dropping in with an all-new second generation for the nameplate. Now, GM Authority has confirmed that the next-gen model will continue to be built in China. [Emphasis added]

According to our sources, the 2021 Buick Envision will be produced at the SAIC-GM Jinqiao South plant in China. From there, the new Envision will be shipped to each of the four markets where the Buick brand is available, including the U.S., Canada, and Mexico (comprising the North American market), as well as in China. [Emphasis added]

…

For reference, the first-generation Buick Envision was also produced in China, but at a different facility, namely the SAIC-GM Dongyue North plant. Like the 2021 Envision, the first-gen model was also sold in China and throughout North America. [Emphasis added]

In November 2018, Breitbart News Economics Editor John Carney urged GM to start manufacturing its Buick Envisions in the U.S. rather than China.

“The Envision is the first car built in China for the U.S. market. Last year, Americans purchased 42,000 Envisions, which are made by a joint venture between General Motors and SAIC Motor, a state-owned Chinese automaker,” Carney wrote:

China, however, is now the largest market for General Motors. Last year the company sold 4,040,789 vehicles there. And China has high tariffs on automobiles and other requirements that make exporting cars into China all-but impossible. General Motors policy of “we build where we sell” is a requirement in China.

But it would be a far simpler matter to bring just the U.S. portion of Envision manufacturing back to the U.S. The basic architecture of the Envision is the same as the soon-to-be late Chevy Volt, which was built at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant that the company announced would close by the end of next year.

“It likely would not take an enormous amount of retooling to keep the plant open and making Envisions,” he concluded.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.