Among the world’s leading automotive brands – those selling more than 200,000 units internationally so far this year – Buick is making news. With 675,964 sales through June, Buick ended 2016’s first half up 20.1 percent over the same period in 2015.

In this year of rapid growth, Buick has risen to the third largest passenger vehicle brand in China and is outselling key competitors including Audi, Acura, Infiniti and Lincoln in North America.

The growth has been fueled by core international products including the Encore small SUV, which this year surpassed a half-million sales since it was introduced 3.5 years ago. Encore has been a success story in every market, though North America has led the way thus far in 2016 with 36,365 sales through June.

Buick’s Envision compact crossover concluded its first full month of US sales with 1,436 customer deliveries amid limited availability. A full model range starting at $34,990 (Rs 23.46 lakh) launches for the 2017 model year later this year. The Envision has quickly become Buick’s best-selling global model, followed by the Encore and LaCrosse.

More than 950,000 customers worldwide chose Buick's flagship sedan since the current model was introduced in 2009. The new-generation LaCrosse was launched earlier this year first in China, Buick's largest market by sales volume, and will be introduced in other markets in the second half of the year.

“2016 has been a year of optimism and excitement for Buick as we’ve outpaced our top competitors,” said Duncan Aldred, vice-president of Buick Sales, Service and Marketing. “As new products continue to arrive to our stores, there’s never been a better time to take a fresh look at Buick’s range of premium SUVs and cars.”

Buick’s momentous 2016 has also included the launch of the Cascada convertible in the U.S. market and continued growth for the Excelle GT, Buick’s best-seller in China.