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Buick has finally confirmed one of the past year’s worst kept secrets—that Opel’s ultra-chic Cascada convertible is destined to be sold in the U.S. At this week’s 2015 Detroit Auto Show, Buick will show its version of the Cascada, which we’re glad to report looks almost identical to its European cousin.

The Cascada will arrive in Buick showrooms early next year, as a 2016 model, and will be the brand’s first open-top car in 25 years. It features 2+2 seating, a roof that needs just 17 seconds to go down, sophisticated suspension, and a turbocharged four-cylinder engine rated at 200 horsepower.

The Cascada’s roof is an automated soft-top, and according to Buick you’ll be able to lower it while driving at speeds of up to 31 mph. It folds beneath a hard tonneau behind the rear seats. When it’s up, special thermal and acoustic insulation helps to ensure that cabin ambiance is comparable with a fixed-roof car.

The platform underpinning the 2016 Buick Cascada is the Delta II design, which is found in a number of compact cars from General Motors Company, including the Buick Verano. Only one engine has been announced so far for the U.S. market, a turbocharged and direct-injected 1.6-liter four-cylinder good for 200 horsepower and 206 pound-feet of torque (221 lb-ft with overboost). Drive is to the front wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission, and 20-inch wheels are fitted as standard.

To get the power down as smoothly as possible, the Cascada employs Buick’s HiPer Strut suspension. Similar to the setup used on some LaCrosse and Regal models, HiPer Strut suspension is based on the MacPherson strut design and features dual-path top mountings that separate the transfer of spring and damper loads to the body structure. This is said to enhance ride and handling by reducing torque steer and providing better feedback for the driver. A Watts link setup is used in the rear.

The Cascada also comes with electric power steering as well as a number of driving aids. These include lane departure warning, rear park assist, a rearview camera and rain-sensing wipers. An active rollover system is also included; in the event of a rollover, the system will deploy safety bars behind the rear seats to protect any occupants.

Premium touches in the cabin include soft-touch material with accent stitching on parts of the dash, a heated steering wheel and heated front seats, Buick’s IntelliLink infotainment system, OnStar 4G LTE with a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot. Storage spaceis 13.4 cubic feet but drops to 9.8 cubic feet when the roof is down. The rear seatbacks fold down electronically to expand cargo capability for longer items.

Pricing and availability for the 2016 Buick Cascada will be announced closer to next year’s launch.

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Opel announced it was discontinuing a few cars today, but the one that got our attention was the Cascada. The plan is to let the Opel Cascada live out its life until the end of 2019, with no replacement in the works. This brings into question the future of the Buick Cascada sold in the United States, since it's basically the same car and produced by Opel in the same factory in Poland.

The Cascada has been on sale in other markets since 2012 badged as either an Opel or Vauxhall, but the Buick-badged car was only introduced in North America for the 2016 model year. Of course, Buick could decide to build the model beyond 2019, but it would need to find a new manufacturing location, convertibles aren't exactly popular, and the car would be egregiously old at that point. In other words, it looks like the Cascada is dead after 2019.

We asked Buick what the game plan might be, and were told that there is nothing official to say at the moment. That's par for the course for something a manufacturer doesn't want to talk about yet, but it's also possible the announcement came as a surprise. Opel is no longer owned by GM, so the announcement actually came from the brand's new PSA ownership (the same French company that owns Peugeot and Citroen).

As for the rationale behind the decision, that was a head scratcher, too. Opel/PSA said it was discontinuing the Cascada, as well as the subcompact Adam and Karl, in order to meet increasingly stringent emissions requirements and produce crossovers instead. This seems contradictory. Replacing a low-selling convertible and a pair of low-profit subcompacts with high-selling, high-profit crossovers sure seems like a solid business decision more than an emissions requirement one.

Indeed, the Buick Cascada has never been a raging success in the United States either, with only 5,595 leaving the lots in 2017. It helped bring in some different kinds of customers to the Buick brand, but the impact is minute compared to a vehicle like the hot-selling Buick Encore.

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