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GM's possible import of China-made Buick draws rebuke from UAW

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Reports that General Motors may import a China-made vehicle to the U.S. has drawn rebuke from the UAW.

DETROIT, MI - Reports that General Motors may import a China-made vehicle to the U.S. has drawn rebuke from the UAW.

According to Automotive News, GM may import the Buick Envision compact crossover from China, where it is currently built and exclusively sold. The trade publication says industry analysts expect it to arrive in the U.S. in the latter half of 2016.

The Detroit automaker has not formally announced any plans on this front.

UAW vice president for GM Cindy Estrada called such as move "alarming," especially given the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks. Opponents of the TPP, a trade agreement between the U.S. and 11 other countries, worry it could have the same impact on workers as the North American Free Trade Agreement did in the 1990s.

Estrada also said such a move would go against GM's pledge to build cars in the markets where they're sold. "The Envision should be made in the U.S. by the workforce that saved GM in its darkest time," Estrada said.

Estrada's comments come as GM and the UAW hammer out new contracts. Current contracts, hatched in 2011, expire Sept. 15.

In terms of size, the Envision is positioned between Buick's Encore and Enclave crossover vehicles, and would arrive on the U.S. market at a time when sales of the segment have been strong.

That's been true for Buick too. In the first seven months of the year, sales of Buick's cars in the U.S. fell by double digits for each model, while sales of the Encore jumped 35 percent to 37,375 units and the Enclave slipped just 2 percent to 34,664 crossovers sold.

According to Automotive News, Buick sells four times as many vehicles in China as it does in the U.S., and the crossover crave seems insatiable there as well.

GM sold 57,413 Envision units in China in the first half of this year alone.

David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.


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