Buick is a solid car brand in China, and its latest entry into the EV market in that country, the Electra E5, is impressing with its display technology.
Although it’s not quite as big as the one in the Caddy, the Electra E5 features a sizable 30-inch curved OLED screen with an impressive 6K resolution; Buick says it can smoothly reflect 1 billion colors. Of course, the E5 also has 5G technology and allows over-the-air OTA updates. Other notable, albeit expected, infotainment features include wireless Apple CarPlay (and likely wireless Android Auto) as well as wireless phone charging. Buick says it has improved voice-recognition software and provides users with myriad configurable settings.
Car and Driver
The Electra E5, estimated to cost about $50,000, will eventually end up in the US (probably around 2025), but is expected in China in the first half of this year. The display technology has already wowed automotive writers because it is used in the Cadillac Escalade (LG provides the displays for that car). The production is a joint version between GM-SAIC and will be manufactured in China. The heads-up display (HUD) is an adjustable LED projector on the drivers side, can be adjusted for color and brightness, and projects multiple views of the instrument panel on to the front screen.
Automotive displays are going to expand rapidly as a category, driven in part by the competition among all major automobile manufacturers to get EV models to market, and also by the fact that once the feature is set in one car, and has proven effective, it just glides into almost every other production line.
